Natural flood management benefits of catchment‐scale woodland creation in the <scp>UK</scp> uplands

Abstract Woodlands typically reduce downstream flooding, but the magnitude of flood risk reduction at a catchment scale remains uncertain. Although flood mitigation is a common objective of woodland creation, land managers often lack catchment‐specific information to guide effective woodland design. We collaborated with land managers to simulate the flood mitigation benefits of a proposed new woodland within a 10.9‐km 2 upland catchment in North Yorkshire, UK. Using Spatially Distributed TOPMODEL, combined with empirical soil and vegetation data, we assessed how different woodland creation scenarios would influence peak streamflow under a range of storm events. For a 1 in 10‐year storm, we simulated a 2.6% reduction in peak streamflow for each 10‐percentage point increase in catchment woodland cover. The proposed 1.6 km 2 of new woodland, resulting in catchment scale woodland cover of 28.2%, reduced simulated peak streamflow for a 1 in 10‐year storm event by 5.1% and for a 1 in 50‐year storm event by 5.3%. We estimated the 100‐year flood regulation service of the proposed woodland to be worth £2.02 ± 0.54 million, equivalent to £12,300 ± 3300 per hectare of woodland, comparable to the financial value of carbon sequestration of the woodland. Practical Implication Our study demonstrates the substantial potential of catchment‐scale woodland creation for natural flood management in the UK uplands. It also highlights the benefits of quantifying the flood mitigation potential during the woodland design stage.