WYESCAPES x ECOVERSITY
What is Landscape Recovery?
Landscape recovery is defined within the context of several environmental schemes, facilitated by DEFRA. It is one of three new Environmental Land Management Schemes designed to support long-term, large-scale projects aimed at improving habitats, biodiversity, water quality, and achieving net zero GHG emissions.
Stakeholder Partners
Project Pillars
Food & Fibre Security
Food & Fibre Security
Food & Fibre Security
Design and implement circular agricultural systems that are adapted to thrive in the evolving climate of the project area to emplace sustainable food and fibre production locally.
Nature Recovery
Food & Fibre Security
Food & Fibre Security
Restore the river floodplains with a diverse, productive and resilient cropping system that inhabits and feeds growing pollinator populations, delivering biodiverse landscape and nature recovery.
Water Biofiltration
Food & Fibre Security
Circular Development
Contribute to the recovery of eroded soils in the Wye and Lugg catchments and enhance public access and engagement with the river landscapes unique habitats and therapeutic offerings.
Circular Development
Food & Fibre Security
Circular Development
Support the transition to decarbonise and sustain industry by supplying carbon negative materials for the development of earthbound, bio-based and energy positive developments.
Wyescapes Landscape Recovery Project
The Wyescapes Landscape Recovery project brings together 50 land holdings covering more than 5000 hectares along the river corridors, spanning the county of Herefordshire from north to south. We are acting as a collective to restore the Wye, recover habitats and species while producing high quality food and produce.
Co-operative Farming Approach
THREE-DIMENSIONAL BUFFERING - AT A GLANCE
Creating A Bioharmonious Built & Natural Environment
The housing we inhabit will be vastly different from what exists today.
To effectively manage the potential extremes of climate, it must incorporate various design elements. These will include earthbound structures that regulate temperature, flat roofs for cooling and sleeping in hot weather, and buildings constructed from carbon-neutral and carbon-negative biomaterials. The design will prioritize minimizing heat loss and preventing heat ingress while ensuring proper ventilation through mechanical and natural breathing systems for fresh air circulation. These buildings will be energy-positive and balanced, collecting and creating water reserves that are used upto 4 times before being released into the landscape, following Earthship principles. The strategic placement of our homes will naturally support efficient energy generation, water storage and management, biodiversity enhancement, pollution prevention, and food production—all within the confines of the development and its community.
The activities within these developments will foster cohesive, local employment, both at the domestic and community levels, focused on producing and processing our own food and beverages. This will be guided by annual planning aimed at achieving complete sustainability. Adaptation to shifting climate conditions will require creativity, resourcefulness, and teamwork. Facility maintenance and education on sustainable adaptation will be central to ensuring the long-term success of this system.
Bioswales & Bioretention Cell Treatment Train
Bioretention cells and bioswales are closely related stormwater management practices. Both rely on vegetation, engineered soil media, and natural processes like infiltration and evapotranspiration to manage and clean runoff and can be designed and implemented in tandem for ambitious projects.
Integrated stormwater management systems often have multiple treatment practices “in series” as a "treatment train". Runoff first flows through one type of green infrastructure (such as a bioswale) before entering another (like bioretention cells). The bioswale serves as a pre-treatment feature that slows and filters runoff, while the bioretention cell provides deeper infiltration and pollutant removal.
Typically distributed around residential developments, bioretention areas enhance site aesthetics and are often marketed as property amenities. Similarly, Bioswales also support developers satisfying discharge regulations by
slowing the flow of water, reducing the risk of
flooding and downstream erosion during heavy rainfall, all whilst increasing property valuation.
The Water Cycle
The total amount of water present on Earth is fixed and does not change. Powered by the Sun, water is continually circulated between the oceans, the atmosphere and the land. This circulation and conservation of Earth's water, known as the water cycle, is a crucial component of our weather and climate
Water, Land & Atmosphere
Soil moisture in surface soils in an important component of the water cycle and is crucial for regulating water and energy exchanges between the land and lower atmosphere. As a variable in the weather and climate system, soil moisture is of interest to hydrologists, soil scientists, meteorologists and ecologists.