Summary of the Wyre Catchment Natural Flood Management Project
The Wyre Catchment Natural Flood Management Project (Wyre NFM project) is the first example in the UK of farmers being paid to deliver natural flood management (NFM) as part of a commercial agreement. The project plans to deliver more than 1,000 targeted measures to store, slow and intercept flood water and prevent peak flow in a catchment in England. These interventions, such as leaky dams, hedgerows, ponds and scrapes, will be hosted by farmers for an annual hosting and maintenance fee over the next nine years, with an option to extend the project to up to 50 years. As of November 2023, the Project has started to install these interventions on the lands of the farmers who initially signed up, and further farmers are being onboarded.
Farm Profile:
- Location: Lancashire
- Size of Farms: 5-1000 hectares
- Size of Land: 99 km2
- Tenancy & Ownership: Owner occupiers, tenant farmers
- Nature Market Focus: Natural Flood Management
- Interventions include: Leaky dams, woodland creation, ponds and scrapes, bunded hedgerows
- Project Partners: The Rivers Trust, The Wyre Rivers Trust, United Utilities, Environment Agency, Flood Re, Co-Op insurance, Triodos Bank, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.