'Fragile landscape'
Mike Innerdale, assistant director of operations for the National Trust, said: 'This is a real community effort, with dozens of volunteers helping to plant trees – restoring important wood pasture habitats and slow the flow of storm water off the fells.
'The Lake District is visited by millions of people every year. But the recent floods show just how fragile a landscape it is.
'The 2015 floods caused millions of pounds worth of damage, leaving scars on the landscape that are yet to heal.
With major storms occurring more frequently, we’re working with farmers and local residents to look at ways of making the Lakes more resilient to flooding.”
'Protecting our homes'
At Braithwaite, near Keswick, rangers, residents and volunteers from the Woodland Trust will plant 500 native broadleaf trees over two hectares of pasture in the Coledale valley. In 2015 flooding caused a major landslide in the valley that lead to the village of Braithwaite being inundated with silt, boulders and other debris.
Emily Brooks, who lives in Braithwaite, said: “I'm really pleased to be planting trees above Braithwaite to help to reduce the impact that extreme rainfall has had on our village. It feels like important work now, to better protect our homes from future flooding.”
