Sheffield Wildlife Trust
Registered Charity Number: 700638
About the charity
Our aims are to protect and conserve wildlife and its habitats, to connect local people with the natural world and educate in the principles of conservation and biodiversity.
How the £50,000 grant will help
The original £10,000 Movement for Good award enabled us to carry out Natural Flood Management (NFM) works in Greno Woods, an extensive hilltop site north of Sheffield.
The additional £40,000 funding will enable us to carry out the same type of nature-based solutions to the flooding problem at other suitable sites in the Upper River Don catchment area.
At Greno Woods, leaky dams and attenuation ponds will hold back rainwater and release it slowly into the stream system, alleviating the flood risk to Chapeltown (pop. 10,000) in the valley below.
The Limb Brook falls steeply from the high moors of the Pennines through woodland to join the River Sheaf in a populated area where flooding often follows heavy rain. NFM here, including leaky dams, ponds and possibly tree planting, will hugely benefit the inhabitants of these low-lying areas.
As with Greno Woods, wildlife will benefit too. The ponds and dams will provide habitats for amphibians: frogs, toads and newts, and woodland ponds help insect populations to thrive, thus providing food for birds and bats.
“Natural Flood Management is an ecology and wildlife friendly way to mitigate the risk of flooding which climate change threatens to make more frequent in future. By installing leaky dams and new ponds, we are storing the water in an area without properties and releasing it slowly, helping reduce the damage caused by flash floods.”
Marta Alfaro-Tirado, Nature Recovery Manager, SWT
