New Life for Old Woods

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New guidance has been published to help landowners restore many of the UK’s ancient woodlands that have been lost or damaged.

Between the 1930’s and the early 1980’s, a period when forestry policy was aimed at increasing timber production, nearly 40% of the UK’s remaining ancient semi-natural woodlands were converted into plantations. Some 130,000 hectares of these were planted with non-native conifer species such as sitka spruce and corsican pine, often resulting in large losses of characteristic native woodland species of plants and animals. However, nature has often proved to be surprisingly resilient and remnants of the biodiversity of ancient woodlands have survived in many plantations. This has created opportunities to give nature a helping hand through a process of restoration.

The guide shows owners and managers how to go about this and points them to sources of further advice. Although the review of forest policy in Northern Ireland may make distinctive comment on the matter from a local perspective, there are approaches that are likely to be common to all countries in the UK.

Produced jointly by the Forestry Commission in GB and the Forest Service following extensive consultation, the guidance draws on the experience gained from the considerable amounts of restoration work already underway on the public forest estate and on those of private owners and charitable trusts. It points out that restoration must be a long-term process. It also says that complete reinstatement of past conditions may not realistic or desirable - in many cases the original conditions will not be known and permanent changes, such as the introduction of the grey squirrel would make that impossible. Instead, it proposes securing and improving features that remain of the former natural woodland type, replacing non-native trees with native species, and creating the conditions needed to promote the development of native woodland ecosystems over the longer term.

Long term success, it points out, will depend on there being sufficient remnants and available sources of colonising flora and fauna. The guidance will enable users to select sites with the highest prospects for restoration based largely on these factors.

Copies of the guide 'Restoration of Native Woodland on Ancient Woodland Sites' can be downloaded from the Forestry Commission's website www.forestry.gov.uk/publications or can be ordered from Forestry Commission Publications, Tel: 0870 121 4180, Fax: 0870 121 4181 or E-mail: forestry@twoten.press.net

1. The UK Biodiversity Action Plan includes targets to restore over 10 per cent of non-native Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites (PAWS) back to native woodland over the next 10-15 years. There are also targets for improving the condition of the native woodlands which remain and expanding their area by planting new native woods.

2. Ancient woodland sites are those included in inventories of ancient woodland based on the oldest reliable information available. In England and Wales this dates back to 1600, in Scotland to 1750. Northern Ireland is working on its inventory and has set a provisional default date of 1830, based on the first Ordnance Survey of Ireland.