Sir, – I am surprised that current references to flood management have not mentioned the effect of forestry on the runoff rate of heavy rainfall on high ground.
This is immediate from pasture, but substantially reduced and delayed if the high ground is forested.
To get the measure of this is a matter for research, but it suggests an agenda for those who are seeking to replace clear-felling with native species mixes. There is also an opportunity for sheep farmers to diversify into forest management.
I recollect when youth hostelling in Wicklow walking in a valley of which one side was forested, and the other in pasture, in the aftermath of heavy rain. The comparison in the water flow in the ditches on each side was remarkable, and this aspect deserves serious research in the context of strategic planning for flood avoidance.– Yours, etc,
ROY HW JOHNSTON,
Rathmines, Dublin 6.