The United Kingdom, being in the British Isles, is ideal for tree growth, thanks to its mild winters, plentiful rainfall, fertile soil and hill-sheltered topography. In the absence of people, much of Great Britain would be covered with mature oaks as well as savannah-type of plains, except for Scotland.[ citation needed ] Although conditions for forestry are good, trees face threats from fungi, parasites and pests. [1] Nowadays, about 13% of Britain's land surface is wooded. European countries average 39%, but this varies widely from 1% (Malta) to 66% (Finland). [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] As of 2021, government plans call for 30,000 hectares to be reforested each year.[ needs update ] Efforts to reach these targets have attracted criticism for planting non-native trees, or trees that are out of place for their surroundings, leading to ecological changes. [7]
The UK's supply of timber was depleted during the First and Second World Wars, when imports were difficult, and the forested area bottomed out at under 5% of Britain's land surface in 1919. That year, the Forestry Commission was established to produce a strategic reserve of timber.
Of the 31,380 square kilometres (12,120 sq mi) of forest in Britain, around 30% is publicly owned and 70% is in the private sector. [Notes 1] More than 40,000 people work on this land. Conifers account for around one half (51%) of the UK woodland area, although this proportion varies from around one quarter (26%) in England to around three quarters (74%) in Scotland. [8] Britain's native tree flora comprises 32 species, of which 29 are broadleaves.
The UK's industry and populace uses at least 50 million tonnes of timber a year. More than 75% of this is softwood, and British forests cannot supply the demand; in fact, less than 10% of the timber used in Britain is home-grown. Paper and paper products make up more than half the wood consumed in Britain by volume. [3] [9] [10]
For most of British history, people cleared forest to make farmland. Changes in the Holocene climate changed the ranges of many species. This makes it complex to estimate the likely extent of natural forest cover. For example, in Scotland four main areas have been identified: oak dominated forest south of the Highland Line, Scots Pine in the Central Highlands, hazel/oak or pine/birch/oak assemblages in the north-east and south-west Highlands, and birch in the Outer Hebrides, Northern Isles and far north of the mainland. Furthermore, fire, human clearance, and grazing probably limited forest cover to about 50% of the land area of Scotland even at its peak. The stock of woodland declined sharply during the First World War [11] and "a Forestry Subcommittee was added to the Reconstruction Committee to advise on policy when the war was over. The Subcommittee, better known as the Acland Committee after its chairman Sir A. H. D. Acland, came to the conclusion that, in order to secure the double purpose of being able to be independent from foreign supplies for three years and a reasonable insurance against a timber famine, the woods of Great Britain should be gradually increased from three million acres to four and three quarter millions at the end of the war". [12] After the Acland Report of 1918, the Forestry Commission was formed in 1919 to meet this need. State forest parks were established in 1935. [13] [5]
Emergency felling controls had been brought in during the World Wars, and these were made permanent in the Forestry Act 1951. Landowners were also given financial incentives to devote land to forests under the Dedication Scheme, which in 1981 became the Forestry Grant Scheme. By the early 1970s, the annual rate of planting exceeded 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) per annum. Most of this planting comprised fast-growing conifers. Later in the century the balance shifted, with fewer than 20,000 hectares (49,000 acres) per annum being planted during the 1990s, but broadleaf planting actually increased, exceeding 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) per year in 1987. By the mid-1990s, more than half of new planting was broadleaf. [9] [14]
In 1988, the Woodland Grant Scheme replaced the Forestry Grant Scheme, paying nearly twice as much for broadleaf woodland as conifers. (In England, the Woodland Grant Scheme was subsequently replaced by the English Woodland Grant Scheme, which operates six separate kinds of grant for forestry projects.) [16] That year, the Farm Woodlands Scheme was also introduced, and replaced by the Farm Woodland Premium Scheme in 1992. Also in the 1990s, a programme of afforestation led to the establishment of Community Forests and the National Forest, which celebrated the planting of its seven millionth tree in 2006. [17] As a result of these initiatives, the stock of forested land is increasing, though the rate of increase has slowed since the turn of the millennium. [18]
Woodland creation is still an important role of the Forestry Commission. It still works closely with government to achieve afforestation, championing initiatives such as The Big Tree Plant and Woodland Carbon Code. Originally, the commission operated across Great Britain, but in 2013 Natural Resources Wales took over responsibility for Forestry in Wales, [19] whilst two new bodies (Forestry and Land Scotland and Scottish Forestry) were established in Scotland on 1 April 2019. [20]
In October 2010, the new coalition government of the UK suggested it might sell off around half the Forestry Commission-owned woodland in the UK. A wide variety of groups were vocal about their disapproval, and by February 2011, the government abandoned the idea. Instead, it set up the Independent Panel on Forestry led by Rt Rev James Jones, then the Bishop of Liverpool. This body published its report in July 2012. Among other suggestions, it recommended that the forested portion of England should rise to 15% of the country's land area by 2060. [6]
Ancient woodland is defined as any woodland that has been continuously forested since 1600. It is recorded on either the Register of Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland or the Register of Planted Woodland Sites. There is no woodland in Britain that has not been profoundly affected by human intervention. Apart from certain native pinewoods in Scotland, it is predominantly broadleaf. Such woodland is less productive, in terms of timber yield, but ecologically rich, typically containing a number of "indicator species" of indigenous wildlife. It comprises roughly 20% of the forested area. [21] [22]
Britain is relatively impoverished in terms of native species. For example, only thirty-one species of deciduous tree and shrub are native to Scotland, including ten willows, four whitebeams and three birch and cherry. [23] [Notes 2]
The Forestry Commission states its aims as:
In 2021, a report by Woodland Trust assessed that only 7% of the UK's native woodlands are in good condition. [25]
Most serious disease threats to British woodland involve fungus. For conifers, the greatest threat is white rot fungus ( Heterobasidion annosum ). Dutch elm disease arises from two related species of fungi in the genus Ophiostoma, spread by elm bark beetles. Another fungus, Nectria coccinea , causes Beech bark disease, as does Bulgaria polymorpha . Ash canker results from Nectria galligena or Pseudomonas savastanoi , and most trees are vulnerable to Honey Fungus ( Armillaria mellea ). The oomycete Phytophthora ramorum (responsible for "Sudden oak death" in the USA) has killed large numbers of Japanese Larch trees in the UK. [26] [27] [28] [29] [30]
Acute oak decline has a bacterial cause. Beetles, moths and weevils can also damage trees, but the majority do not cause serious harm. Notable exceptions include the Large Pine Weevil ( Hylobius abietis ), which can kill young conifers, the Spruce Bark Beetle ( Ips typographus ) which can kill spruces, and the Cockchafer ( Melolontha melolontha ) which eats young tree roots and can kill in a dry season. Rabbits, squirrels, voles, field mice, deer, and farm animals can pose a significant threat to trees. Air pollution, climate change, acid rain, and wildfire represent the main environmental hazards. [31] In 2021, winter storms destroyed about 12,000 hectares of forest in Britain. [32]
In November 2023, a study conducted by 42 researchers, with 1,200 experts consulted, warned that UK forests are heading for "catastrophic ecosystem collapse" within the next 50 years due to multiple threats including disease, extreme weather and wildfires. The study suggested action plans to save the forests including increasing the diversity of tree species, planting trees of different ages, promoting natural regeneration, managing deer populations and more. [32]
In 2022, the UK produced 3,145,000 cubic metres of sawn wood, 3,466,000 cubic metres of wood-based panels and 3,462,000 tonnes of paper and paperboard. The UK does not produce enough timber to satisfy domestic demand, and the country imports 80% of its timber and paper from abroad, as the world's second largest timber importer after China. [33] Most sawn softwood imports come from the Baltic, in particular Sweden (42%), Latvia (16%) and Finland (14%). [34] Most of the domestically produced construction timber is spruce graded to the strength class C16. [35]
Forestry is a devolved matter in the UK, administered by separate agencies in each nation. They are: in England, the Forestry Commission; in Scotland, Scottish Forestry; in Wales, Natural Resources Wales; and in Northern Ireland, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA). [36] Each of these agencies is tasked with delivering the UK Forestry Standard. [37]
Successful forestry requires healthy, well-formed trees that are resistant to diseases and parasites. The best wood has a straight, circular stem without a spiral grain or fluting, and small, evenly spaced branches. The chances of achieving these are maximised by planting good-quality seed in the best possible growing environment. [38]
Tree breeding programmes, to ensure the best seed, are hampered by the trees' long life-cycles. However, particularly since the 1950s, the Forestry Commission among other organisations has been running a programme of breeding, propagation, induced flowering and controlled pollination with the aim of producing healthy, disease-resistant, fast-growing stock. [39]
Currently, the vast majority of Britain's timber uses road haulage. As forests are located in rural areas, the heavy timber vehicles have severely damaged many single lane tracks, especially in the Highlands. In order to combat this, companies are being forced to provide funding for repairs, as well as using alternative transport systems such as rail and coastal shipping. Despite the number of forest railways plummeting after the Beeching Axe, rail's share of timber transport has risen from 3% in 2002[ to what percentage when? ] with the opening of new lines in Devon, the Pennines, Scotland and South Wales by Colas Rail. [40] [41] [42] [43]
The price of woodland has risen out of proportion to its timber yield, and in 2022 reached £28,000 per hectare (£11,000 per acre). Woodland prices are affected by its very favourable tax treatment and its high amenity value. [6] [44] [45]
The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England.
Kielder Forest is a large forestry plantation in Northumberland, England, surrounding Kielder village and the Kielder Water reservoir. It is the largest man-made woodland in England with three-quarters of its 250 square miles (650 km2) covered by forest. The majority of the forest lies within Kielder Water and Forest Park, with the southern tip known as Wark Forest lying within Northumberland National Park. The forest is next to the Anglo-Scottish border.
In the United Kingdom, ancient woodland is that which has existed continuously since 1600 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 1600 is likely to have developed naturally.
Thetford Forest is the largest lowland pine forest in Britain and is located in a region straddling the north of Suffolk and the south of Norfolk in England. It covers over 19,000 ha in the form of a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Leigh Woods is a 2-square-kilometre (0.77 sq mi) area of woodland on the south-west side of the Avon Gorge, close to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, within North Somerset opposite the English city of Bristol and north of the Ashton Court estate, of which it formed a part. Stokeleigh Camp, a hillfort thought to have been occupied from the third century BC to the first century AD and possibly also in the Middle Ages, lies within the reserve on the edge of the Nightingale Valley. On the bank of the Avon, within the reserve, are quarries for limestone and celestine which were worked in the 18th and 19th centuries are now derelict.
Wentwood, in Monmouthshire, South Wales, is a forested area of hills, rising to 1,014 feet (309 m) above sea level. It is located to the northeast of, and partly within the boundaries of, the city of Newport.
The English Lowlands beech forests is a terrestrial ecoregion in the United Kingdom, as defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the European Environment Agency (EEA). It covers 45,600 km2 (17,600 sq mi) of Southern England, approximately as far as the border with Devon and South Wales in the west, into the Severn valley in the north-west, into the East Midlands in the north, and up to the border of Norfolk in the north-east. The WWF code for this ecoregion is PA0421.
Mediterranean conifer and mixed forests is an ecoregion, in the temperate coniferous forest biome, which occupies the high mountain ranges of North Africa. The term is also a botanically recognized plant association in the African and Mediterranean literature.
The flora of Scotland is an assemblage of native plant species including over 1,600 vascular plants, more than 1,500 lichens and nearly 1,000 bryophytes. The total number of vascular species is low by world standards but lichens and bryophytes are abundant and the latter form a population of global importance. Various populations of rare fern exist, although the impact of 19th-century collectors threatened the existence of several species. The flora is generally typical of the north-west European part of the Palearctic realm and prominent features of the Scottish flora include boreal Caledonian forest, heather moorland and coastal machair. In addition to the native species of vascular plants there are numerous non-native introductions, now believed to make up some 43% of the species in the country.
Bedford Purlieus is a 211-hectare (520-acre) ancient woodland in Cambridgeshire, in the United Kingdom. It is a national nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest owned and managed by the Forestry Commission. In Thornhaugh civil parish, 10 km (6.2 mi) south of Stamford and 14 km (8.7 mi) west of Peterborough, the wood is within the Peterborough unitary authority area of Cambridgeshire, and borders Northamptonshire. In Roman times it was an iron smelting centre, during the medieval period it was in the Royal Forest of Rockingham, and later it became part of the estates of the Duke of Bedford. Bedford Purlieus appears to have been continuously wooded at least from Roman times, and probably since the ice receded. The woodland may have the richest range of vascular plants of any English lowland wood. It acquired particular significance in the 1970s as an early subject for the historical approach to ecology and woodland management.
Maulden Wood is a woodland situated in Bedfordshire, England, near the village of Maulden, on the greensand ridge that stretches from Leighton Buzzard to Gamlingay. It includes Maulden Wood and Pennyfather's Hill, a 148.8 hectare, biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
Scotland is ideal for tree growth, thanks to its mild winters, plentiful rainfall, fertile soil and hill-sheltered topography. As of 2019 about 18.5% of the country was wooded. Although this figure is well below the European Union (EU) average of 43%, it represents a significant increase compared to the figure of 100 years previously: in 1919 it was estimated that only 5% of the country's total land area was covered in forest. The Scottish Government's Draft Climate Change Plan has set an aim of increasing coverage to 21% of Scotland by 2032, with the rate of afforestation rising to 15,000 hectares per year by 2024.
Foxley Wood is a nature reserve in Foxley, Norfolk, England, the largest ancient woodland and coppice in Norfolk. The Norfolk Wildlife Trust, which manages this reserve, bought it in 1998. It is 123 hectares in size. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 2, and a National Nature Reserve.
Upper Wye Gorge is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), noted for its biological and geological characteristics, around Symonds Yat in the Wye Valley on the Wales–England border. The site is listed in the "Forest of Dean Local Plan Review" as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).
Faskally Forest, also known as Faskally Woods, is a wooded area in the historic county of Perthshire, Scotland. It is among the mixed woodlands of Perthshire, and is well known for its radiant colours during the autumn. It is one of the early forest lands of Perthshire Big Tree County. Originally a "model woodland" developed in the 19th century with a resort owned by Archibald Edward Butter. In 1953, Faskally was acquired by the Forestry Commission of Scotland to set up a school for training young foresters.
Glen Nant is a glen lying to the south of Taynuilt in the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. An area of woodland of 339 hectares on the western side of the River Nant is designated as national nature reserve (NNR), which is owned and managed by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS). It is an example of an Atlantic Oakwood, and is one of largest areas of upland oak woodland in north Argyll.
Afforestation efforts in Scotland have provided an increase in woodland expansion. By the 20th century mark, Scotland had diminished woodland coverage to 5% of Scotland's land area. However, by the early 21st century, afforestation efforts have increased woodland coverage to 17%. The Scottish government released their Draft Climate Change Plan in January 2017. The 2017 draft plan has increased the targeted woodland coverage to 21% by 2032 and increases the afforestation rate to 15,000 hectares per year.
Wykeham Forest is a 2,760-acre (1,115-hectare) woodland 6 miles (9.7 km) in the North York Moors National Park, near to Wykeham, west of Scarborough, England. The wood is a mixture of conifer and broadleaf trees, with some open ground and a Forestry Commission nursery. The wood was planted in stages between 1924 and 1987, with open land being purchased by the commission. Recreational activities such as walking, bicycling and horse-riding are undertaken in the forest.
A tree plantation, forest plantation, plantation forest, timber plantation or tree farm is a forest planted for high volume production of wood, usually by planting one type of tree as a monoculture forest. The term tree farm also is used to refer to tree nurseries and Christmas tree farms. Plantation forestry can produce a high volume of wood in a short period of time. Plantations are grown by state forestry authorities and/or the paper and wood industries and other private landowners. Christmas trees are often grown on plantations, and in southern and southeastern Asia, teak plantations have recently replaced the natural forest.
{{cite news}}
: |last2=
has generic name (help)