Ep. 042: Restorative Practices for a Wilder World

·1 hr 7 min·4 clips

Tom says leaky woody structures can store the same flood capacity as “an additional Brecon swimming pool.”

1. Wilder Podcast episode 42 focuses on restorative practices for a wilder world, with Tom Johnston discussing natural flood management and nature guardianship. 2. Tom Johnston is the founder and director of We Are Nature Based in Wales, and his work links nature based solutions with the rights of nature. 3. The episode asks what “restorative practice” means for watercourses, land management, and the future of the Grange Project. 4. Tom says his route to this work passed through 1980s vegetarian activism, grassroots environmental campaigning, outdoor instruction, and 15 years leading wilderness expeditions. 5. He describes a turn at the Prince’s Trust in 2010, then a period that included his wife Catherine’s cancer diagnosis in 2014 and her death in 2016. 6. Tom says a solo Iceland bike trip, a New Zealand paragliding accident, and a broken back forced him to reassess his career. 7. He later earned a master’s degree in marine environmental protection and expected to work on whale disentanglement and high-seas conservation. 8. COVID derailed that plan, and he found work in Northeast Wales on green infrastructure, climate change, and natural flood management. 9. Tom defines natural flood management as using natural processes instead of gray infrastructure such as dams, culverts, reservoirs, and concrete. 10. He describes leaky woody structures as sticks and logs in streams that slow flow, add surface roughness, and imitate fallen trees in neglected watercourses. 11. Tom says a century of straightening streams, draining wet land, and building on flood plains has increased flood risk downstream. 12. He adds the Met Office view that by 2080 the UK may receive roughly the same annual rainfall but face twice as many flash flood events and more droughts. 13. He uses a sponge analogy to explain why dry ground can send sudden downpours straight into canalised channels and into kitchens. 14. Tom says farmers initially doubted the idea of “sticks in streams,” but a hot, dry summer brought them back asking whether the structures could hold water on their land. 15. He says some farmers have lost three or four metres of a field in a single storm, which made erosion control an urgent issue. 16. A North Wales example shows a farmer no longer needing a mini digger to clear a culvert after NFM was installed upstream. 17. Tom says wet woodland is now an incredibly rare habitat in the UK, and slowing water can help nutrients stay higher in the catchment. 18. He argues that retained nutrients can support plants and reduce algal blooms in main rivers. 19. The conversation stays practical and collaborative, with Chloe asking about beavers, longevity, land boundaries, SSSIs, and protected species. 20. People interested in farming, flood resilience, and habitat restoration should listen; people wanting a pure theory discussion may skip it.

As heard by us

A practical, human look at land care that earns its point through lived examples.

Tom Johnston turns a practical talk about natural flood management and nature guardianship into something wider: how people live with water, weather, and pressure on the land.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want natural flood management and nature guardianship explained by someone in the work.

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