Forestry Panel progress report published
8 December 2011
As the Independent Forestry Panel launches its interim report today, The Wildlife Trusts look to the Panel to explain to the Government the true value of our woodlands and to ‘bust the myth’ that the Public Forest Estate is a burden on the state.
“If the Budget recognised the full range and scale of benefits our natural environment provided there would be no question of the Treasury pressing for forest sales, or reducing the investment it made in the Public Forest Estate. We have to bust this myth once and for all,” said Paul Wilkinson, Head of Living Landscape for The Wildlife Trusts.
The net annual cost to the Treasury of Forest Enterprise, the arm of Forestry Commission England that manages the PFE, is under £20m. The UK National Ecosystem Assessment report, issued in June, highlights the hidden value of nature, worth billions of pounds to the UK economy. It estimates the value of social and environmental benefits of woodland in the UK alone as £1.2 billion per annum.
Having read the Panel’s report, Debbie Tann CEO of Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust says: “This long awaited report gives us some comfort that the Panel has recognised the intrinsic value of trees and woodlands. The Report acknowledges that the value of the wide ranging public benefits provided by the Public Forest Estate - including access and nature conservation - far exceed that of the timber alone.
We have long promoted the importance of having a state owned and funded public forest estate. The Report appears to acknowledge this by stating that it wants “the ownership of the Public Forest Estate in England to be secured for the future”. We now need to make sure the Treasury accepts that the PFE represents good value for money.
On a less positive note, the report seems to have conflated and confused the positive elements of trees and woods with the harmful elements of some aspects of plantation forestry culture. Our response to the Call for Views pointed out the need to prioritise the restoration of open habitats such as heathlands and grasslands in places where plantations had damaged biodiversity – such as in the New Forest. There is limited acknowledgement of this point by the Panel: “In our final report we will explore how much habitat restoration and improvement should be taking place on the public forest estate, and where, within the context of the wider landscape, it should happen. This needs to include the costs involved as well as the benefits.”
I am also disappointed that the Panel has yet to visit the New Forest which is the largest tract of semi-natural habitat in Britain, rich in heaths, bogs, meadows, streams and wetlands – as well as ancient woods and forestry plantations. The report makes no mention of the New Forest apart from showing it on the map of England’s “woodland”. As the New Forest National Park Authority stated several months ago: “It is vital that any changes resulting from the Government’s proposals for forests in England continue to safeguard the special qualities of this much-loved landscape including the ancient commoning system that sustains it.” Understanding the complexity and importance of the New Forest is a vital task for the Panel.
The Wildlife Trusts have been pressing the Panel to articulate the numerous and substantial benefits drawn from our woodlands. Enhancing wildlife is not a luxury for our nation – it is an essential. Woodlands are just one part of a bigger picture: England's nature. Taking the right approach to England’s public forest estate could help us to redress the vast declines in wildlife during the twentieth century.
The full report can be found at:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/forestrypanel/files/Independent-Panel-on-Forestry-Progress-Report.pdf
