The thinking behind The Woodland Project

Over a period of several years I have researched a wide variety of environmentally-friendly and various other projects around the country and discovered that most woodlands, especially those planted with conifers, were low value land, vastly underutilised for various reasons, and often under-managed, largely due to the fact that the ultimate timber crop was of low value, due to competition from cheap imports.

Although for some time the Forestry Commission have encouraged the planting of native broadleaves rather than conifers in new planting schemes, this does nothing to stop the devastation to the environment and wildlife caused by clear felling and large scale mechanical extraction which has become commonplace, nor does it bring any social benefits to the community.

What is needed is a way of making low timber value woodlands economically viable, the private sector will then invest in forestry once again, instead of management initiatives being dependent on sporadic public funding, as in now the case.

Woodlands such as "unspoiled" ancient woodlands, SSSI's and other historically noted sites tend to be bought up and restored or managed by charities or conservation groups to preserve their future. This ensures that the tiny percentage of this type of woodland in the UK is preserved.

However, a large number of woodlands in the UK are either ancient or semi-natural which have often been fully or partly replanted with non-native conifers, or they are plantations, usually formed from low value farmland.

These woodlands are the ones which would benefit from conversion to suitable native species and markets found or created for what they can produce both now and in the future. And in some cases, new uses found for the woodlands themselves.

Many new woodlands are also being planted around the country. This is excellent from an environmental point of view, but unless viable uses and returns can be found over the next few years some of these too are in danger of being under managed in the future, as even volunteer labour has a cost in organisation, insurance and equipment etc, even if there were enough people available and willing to do the work, which at present there are not.

The plan for our woodland is to develop a demonstration resource to show other woodland owners what could be done with their land as a viable alternative to clearfelling, large scale, environmentally damaging and materially wasteful mechanical extraction, and the use of polluting chemicals and other methods which have now become the norm in agriculture and forestry management.

Its emphasis on the inclusion of local communities, and in particular young people, makes this project much needed.
By linking sustainable land use and practices with economic viability this project will be able to change outlooks and approaches to countryside management.