UK Forestry Standard - second edition

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Forest Service welcomes the publication of the second edition of the UK Forestry Standard.

The UK Forestry Standard was published in 1998 and a reprint with some updating has become necessary – this is now available as the Second Edition. In a quite separate process the Forestry Commission and Forest Service for Northern Ireland are planning to revise, in consultation with stakeholders, the Forest Guidelines on which the Standard depends. When complete (hopefully within 2 to 3 years) we will need to take a fresh look at the UK Forestry Standard and the need for a more fundamental revision.

In the second edition we have taken account of changes that have occurred over the last 5 years in international and UK governance and administration, and changes in the regulations affecting forestry. During that time we also consulted on and published indicators of sustainable forest management. This process was anticipated in the first edition and is now reflected in a different approach being taken in the section of the Standard concerned with monitoring its implementation.

There are few changes to our guidance about forestry practices despite the changes of strategic emphasis now being introduced through the forestry policies of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The background to the changes in practice is generally well known and there should be no surprises. An example is a closer initial spacing where trees are being managed for timber production, in order to improve the potential for better quality timber. There is also a slight change to reflect the fact that – subject to the new regulations on environmental impact assessment – forest removal is sometimes highly beneficial in terms of sustainable development. In recent years such forest clearances have allowed the restoration of some scarce and important open ground habitats such as peat bogs and lowland heaths.

Other changes are mainly editorial and, we hope, should make the Standard easier to read. The publication will cost £7.50 and it can also be downloaded free from the FC website at: www.forestry.gov.uk/publications

1. A summary of the changes of interest in the second edition of the UK Forestry Standard are available on the Forest Service website www.forestserviceni.gov.uk

2. All media enquiries to DARD Press Office Tel 028 90524619

Devolution of Forestry in GB to England, Scotland and Wales. The UK Forestry Standard has been adopted in each of the country forestry strategies.

Forestry Authority (FA) now Forestry Commission (FC).

Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland (DANI) now Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD).

Forestry and Arboriculture Safety and Training Council (FASTCo) has been wound up. Its Health and Safety responsibilities are now with the Arboriculture and Forestry Advisory Group (AFAG) of the Health and Safety Commission.

The skills and qualifications area of FASTCo work has been taken over by Lantra, the 'trailblazer' Sector Skills Council for the land based industries.

The United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) now provides the international framework originally started with the International Panel on Forests and later the International Forum on Forests.

The Forest Industry Committee of Great Britain (FICGB) is now the Forest Industries Development Council.

The UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS) is the UK forest certification standard established in 1999. (This is a new section and is also referenced under monitoring in Fig 3.)

Revised Fig. 3 on the conceptual framework of International, National and Local governance and instruments.

New Environmental Assessment regulations for GB and for Northern Ireland.

New EU Directive on Forest Reproductive Material and its implementation in UK Forest Reproductive Material regulations (FRM).

EU Water Framework Directive 2000 (added).

Countryside Rights of Way Act (England and Wales) 2000 (added).

Energy Crop Scheme (added).

Approvals under Environmental Assessment Regulations (added).

Deletion of reference to annual compliance surveys of FE by FA. These are no longer required because the FE estate is now independently monitored through FSC certification.

Forest Design Plan development process in FE has replace Forest District Panels.

Amendments have been made where necessary to reflect devolution of forestry policy and legislation:-

Flexibility introduced to the requirement to restock after clear felling, where this would support Government's wider aims for sustainable land use.

This part of the standard, which covers Criteria and Indicators and Monitoring of sustainable forest management in the UK, has been reworked. Concepts have been clarified since the first edition. The Government published a set of UK Indicators of Sustainable Forestry in 2002 and the report from monitoring these indicators will provide the national level information, much of which was separately entered as bullet points in the second column of the original standard. That column has now been re-headed as "The Requirements of Sustainable Forest Management". The only significant change to the other text in that column has been in relation to carbon sequestration. The new text is intended to avoid over-simplifying the complexities of this issue.

SN1 'Equipment' added to 'precautions' and 'competence' requirements in the first bullet of the first box.

Paragraph on safety responsibilities of growers, purchasers, contractors and sub-contractors (added).

Guidance on established stocking density increased to minimum 2,500 trees per hectare where growing for timber quality.

Protection and Maintenance - first bullet modified to show that fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides should be used only when other options are not available or economic to use.

Planning harvesting operations. The need to obtain EA or SEPA permission for burning lop and top (added).

Deletion of reference to guideline on forest roads (not published).

SN2 A reference to publication of Ecological Site Classification (added) .

SN5 Choice of native planting stock updated in line with new published guidance on using local planting stock and with the new FRM regulation.

Appendix 3

Affect of CROW Act on conservation (added).

Register of Landscapes of Special Interest in Wales (added).

Local Forestry Frameworks added to list of indicative information.

Minor updates in line with other changes and recent publications.

Other very minor changes have been made to improve the text. These are not substantive.