Wood, Water & Innovation: Building Resilience in Rural Environments - The Forestry Engineering Gr...

This recording covers how forestry, timber, water management, and safety regulation intersect with land-based engineering, and why agricultural engineers sit at the centre of these systems.
 


Apologies for the background noise in some of the interviews, it was a lively conference environment!


Key Takeaways

1. Timber & Species Diversification - Prof. Dan Ridley‑Ellis

•    Future timber supply must adapt to climate change and disease, so we need species diversification beyond traditional commercial species.
•    What matters to most users is performance, not species name: strength, durability, processability.
•    The timber of 2050 is already in the ground – current forestry decisions lock in future material properties.
•    Small datasets on “new” species are a big risk; **some data is better than reputation-based assumptions**.
•    Opportunity: engineers specifying materials should ask for performance-based criteria, not just traditional species labels.


2. SuDS & Water on Difficult Land - Anna Cuanalo MICE - ARUP

•    Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) rules were written for urban settings but are now being applied to rural infrastructure (forest roads, access tracks).
•    - This creates compliance challenges but also opportunities for integrated water and land management.
•    Agricultural engineers are central in:
•      Designing roads and access on steep, wet, rocky land.
•      Managing soil, runoff, and erosion at landscape scale.
•    The profession is broader than “things with wheels”: it’s soils, water, land use, and access engineering.


3. Practical SuDS in Forestry - Felix Merry Natural Resources Wales 

•    In Wales, SuDS is now unavoidable for many forest schemes; forestry is effectively a test bed for others.
•    Engineers must upskill in hydraulic modelling to justify schemes to regulators.
•    Practical hierarchy:
•      Prefer infiltration into soil.
•      If collected, attenuate and slow the flow (e.g. swales, check dams, timber dams).
•      Last resort: discharge to watercourses.
•    Shows the rising need for hydrology‑literate land engineers who can demonstrate performance, not just build tracks.





4. CDM Regulations in Forestry - Iwan Lloyd Williams MICfor – Forestry Consultant

•    Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM) absolutely apply to day‑to‑day forestry operations.
•    Forestry is not a cowboy industry: it already identifies hazards and manages risk; CDM mainly formalises existing duties of care.
•    Forestry has its own professional safety guidance (e.g. FISA); much of CDM is about clear roles, responsibilities and documentation.
•    For agricultural engineers, this reinforces the need to treat land-based projects as formal construction work in the eyes of the law.


Soundbites

-“The timber we need in 2050 is already in the ground.”
“Trees grow wood for their own reasons – they’re not thinking about us.”
“Some data is better than no data.”
“Agricultural engineering sits right in the middle of our land management.”
“SuDS was written for urban flooding, but it’s now landing on steep, wet forestry ground.”
“Forestry is doing CDM already – just with different words.”

 Keywords / Phrases

Species diversification
Sitka spruce, homegrown spruce
Wood properties, performance-based specification
Climate resilience, future resource
SuDS – Sustainable Dra＜