A GROUNDBREAKING £25,000 project to explore an eco-friendly way of preventing severe river flooding in the Selby area has been launched.

The scheme, at Bishop Wood, near Cawood, will allow rainwater to be retained for longer in the wood rather than quickly flowing downstream into the Selby Dam, a tributary of the River Ouse.

By damming the drainage ditches in the 850-acre wood, the Forestry Commission and the Environment Agency hope to bring the ancient woodland site back to its watery roots.

A spokesman for the Forestry Commission said: “Historically, Bishop Wood would have been much wetter than it is today.

“But in the 20th century, large areas were planted with pines as part of a national push to shore up the nation’s depleted timber reserves. That meant that more drainage ditches were cut to drain the land. “Now experts are taking a leaf out of the history books to turn back the clock. Around two miles of dykes are being excavated to increase their storage capacity and then dammed. “During heavy downpours, these channels will fill with water, eventually overspilling into selected areas, covering up to 30 acres of the wood.”

The initiative is being backed by £25,000 from the National Grid and the work to dam the drainage ditches will take six weeks.

Brian Walker, wildlife officer at the Forestry Commission, said: “This is the first time in Yorkshire that we have tried anything quite like this and although it’s a relatively small-scale experiment, it could have far wider implications for other flood-prone areas.

“We are not flooding the wood, but rather reverting back to a pattern of seasonal wetness.

“There are also extremely good ecological reasons for re-wetting the wood. “It will boost biodiversity and over time more oak and alder will take root, both classical wet woodland species.”

Public access to the popular wood, which was once part of a huge hunting estate owned by the Archbishop of York, will be maintained.

Wildlife set to benefit from the project will include water voles, various beetles and also a rare mud snail, which was found during field surveys which were carried out to pave the way for the project.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is planning to run a range of events in the woodland to highlight the importance of the natural environment and wet woodland habitats in the Selby area. For details, see ywt.org.uk/whats_on.php