16 December 2008
New woodland strategy offers a chance to save Wales' ancient forests
As the Forestry Commission Wales moves towards a new policy on restoring its ancient woodland, Coed Cadw (the Woodland Trust) urges it to turn policy into reality
As the Assembly Government puts the finishing touches (1) to its new Woodland for Wales strategy following the public consultation earlier this year, Coed Cadw (the Woodland Trust) has urged the Forestry Commission to turn the new policy on restoring ancient woodland into a reality.
The Woodlands for Wales Consultation, issued by rural development minister Elin Jones in July, outlines a positive vision for the restoration of Wales’ ancient woodland: “We intend to manage all Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites in line with best practice restoration guidance on the Assembly woodland estate”.
Coed Cadw welcomed this consultation document. It submitted a response stressing the huge benefits that sustainably managed woodland and trees offer in terms of biodiversity, public access, recreation, landscape quality, and ecosystem services such as floodwater, soil and carbon management, in addition to a sustainable supply of a timber and wood products.
Coed Cadw also highlighted the opportunity the new strategy presents to Forestry Commission Wales (FCW) to finally abandon the last of its damaging management practices – clear-felling and replanting with conifers - that it still applies on parts of its own estate, for example at Wentwood Forest in Gwent, Wales’ largest remaining ancient forest.
Coed Cadw’s response stressed that, unlike in England, Wales has not yet adopted a comprehensive policy on restoring irreplaceable ancient woodland (2) that was planted with conifers (3) during the last century, such as Wentwood. The 40 per cent of Wentwood that is in the care of Coed Cadw (4) is being gradually restored to predominantly broadleaf cover. Some of the rest, belonging to the National Assembly, is still being subjected to periodic clear-felling and replanting with conifers, threatening irreversible damage to surviving ancient woodland wildlife.
Coed Cadw regrets the use of clear felling and urges the Commission to embrace “continuous cover” management as is encouraged in the Woodlands for Wales strategy and the grant scheme on offer to private woodland owners. The charity is also pleading with the Commission not to cause further damage to the survival of ancient woodland features by replanting the felled plots with more conifers.
Coed Cadw recognises that the FCW have a good record or restoring many of its ancient woods that have been planted with conifers, notably through the Reclaiming our Forgotten Inheritance project, between 2005 and 2008.
Nevertheless, a Written Assembly Question (5) in October reveals that, according to current plans, the Forestry Commission Wales is set to clear-fell no less than 705 hectares (1,742 acres) of planted ancient woodland over the next three years. In the vast majority of situations, best practice in the restoration of these sites is to manage them through continuous cover forestry, repeatedly thinning so as to gradually remove the conifers, while avoiding sudden shocks to the remaining ancient woodland features.
Jerry Langford, Coed Cadw’s director for Wales says: “We strongly welcome the endorsement of ancient woodland restoration in the consultation document issued in July, and the move away from conifer monoculture. We urge FCW to rise to the challenge of the vision in Woodlands for Wales and to work with us at Wentwood Forest to demonstrate that productive and sustainable forest management can go hand-in-hand with restoring ancient woodland. This means stopping clear felling and damaging ground preparation and absolutely no replanting with even more conifers on ancient woodland sites.
“For Coed Cadw, the bottom line is that the Commission has already hit the sites hard with its clear felling and the use of excavators, so we really hope that it will hold back from the final act of planting another dense crop of conifers in Wales’ largest remaining ancient forest.”
All National Assembly woods are certified under the UK Woodland Assurance Standard which should mean that they are responsibly managed and the timber from them can bear the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) kite mark. The standard includes a requirement regarding the restoration of planted ancient woodland which Coed Cadw feels the Commission is failing to meet. Last year the FSC auditors raised this point as an issue that should be addressed (6) if FCW is to retain its hard-won certified status as and continue to deliver the Assembly’s commitment to sustainability.
Coed Cadw’s full response to the Woodlands for Wales consultation is available online here.
For media enquiries contact:
Rory Francis (Publicity and Public Affairs Officer for Wales) on 01766 832563 or 07760 171174 Afallon, Tanygrisiau, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd LL41 3RHEmail roryfrancis@woodland-trust.org.uk
Or The Woodland Trust Press Office email media@woodland-trust.org.uk or Tel 01476 581121
Images
Two digital images are available, the first showing the damaging ground preparation on an ancient woodland clear-fell site, in the care of the Forestry Commission Wales, and the second showing land in the ownership of Coed Cadw which has recently been thinned. This can be downloaded at higher resolution by clicking on the “All sizes” button just above the image, and then selecting the “Original” option.
Editor’s Notes
1. The final version of the Woodlands for Wales Strategy is expected to be published in the New Year.
2. Strictly speaking, ancient woodland is defined as land which has been continually wooded since 1600. However, as large scale plantations were not created before this date, land which has been continually wooded since 1600 is likely to date from the shortly after the last Ice Age, around 8,000 years ago.
3. As a result of government policy, around 24,000 hectares of Wales’ ancient woodland was planted with non-native trees, mostly conifers, between the 1930s and 1980s, as discussed by Islwyn Ffowc Elis in his classic Welsh novel Wythnos yng Nghymru Fydd. Research shows that in the next ten years most conifers planted on ancient woodland sites will reach maturity. If they are felled and replaced with more conifers then the wildlife dependent on ancient woodland will not survive. This research, “The area and composition of plantations on ancient woodland sites” by Pryor, S N and Smith, S (2002) is available online here.
4. More detail about the area of Wentwood that is in the care of Coed Cadw is available here.
5. The answer was provided by Elin Jones AM in response to Michael German, on 21 October. The full text can be seen on the Welsh Assembly website.
6. The actual comments from the auditor are the following. ‘CAR’ stands for ‘corrective action request’:
“There were two issues relevant to this minor CAR.
1. Policy Issues
At time of audit on 14 November 2007, policies supporting the implementation of PAWS
management guidance were not yet fully in place (see Objective Evidence below).
2. Coed y Mynydd FD
The District planning and budgeting that includes a programme for PAWS restoration is
incomplete. At time of audit on 14 November 2007, not all prioritised PAWS in Coed y Mynydd FD had clear management prescriptions and 5 year implementation plans readily available with confirmation of funding or planned funding for their corresponding operational programme. No clear Low Impact Silvicultural System plans are available to support the thinning regimes for the non priority PAWS within the FD.”
Coed Cadw (The Woodland Trust)
The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity. It has 300,000 members and supporters. The Trust has four key aims: i) No further loss of ancient woodland; ii) Restoring and improving the biodiversity of woods; iii) Increasing new native woodland; iv) Increasing people’s awareness and enjoyment of woodland.
Established in 1972, the Woodland Trust now has over 1,000 sites in its care covering approximately 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres). These include over 100 sites in Wales, with a total area of 1,580 hectares (3,900 acres). It offers free public access to nearly all of its sites. Further news can be accessed via www.coed-cadw.org.uk The Trust adopted its Welsh language name in 2000: “Coed Cadw”. This is an old Welsh term, used in medieval laws to describe protected or preserved woodland.
