Wednesday 15th November at 7pm

Join us for a jam-packed Autumn Woodsmeet! Our departing CEO, Ian Baker, will be giving us an important woodfuel update and his final thoughts before introducing his successor. Then Simon James and Chris Keeler will be chatting with Ben Bower on the reasons for making leaky dams, how to do so and why the need for natural flood management and environmental forestry is greater than ever.

Ben Bower is a specialist environmental forestry contractor and trainer who in recent years has been pioneering techniques of creating natural flood defences. His career has been long and diverse, from hedgelaying, invasive species removal and charcoal burning in India to creating some of the finest examples of leaky dams in Britain.

Leaky dams use local resources to mimic natural processes, which enhances biodiversity as well as reducing flood risk  further downstream. Ben has been at the forefront of developing this practice in the south of England, and has created beautiful, functional dams for the Forestry Commission, the South-East Rivers Trust and many private woodland owners.

This event will be run online through Teams and is exclusive to our members. Please supply your membership number when booking.