I rang the Woodland Trust earlier - spoke to the friendly and helpful Emilie Bonnevay in the Supporters section (I did ask for Sue Holden, the Chief Executive but she wasn't available). Emilie sent me the following email and confirmed it was ok to post it on a public forum. See below:
Here is the Trust's press statement regarding the proposed sales of public forest sites:
The Woodland Trust has a number of concerns over the likelihood of a substantially accelerated disposal programme of public forest land. The Trust has long held the view that not all of existing forest estate needs to be held in public ownership, especially those sites whose purpose is primarily the production of timber, or where local community ownership is a viable option.
However, if the Government is determined to be the greenest government ever then it has to find a way to secure the future of ancient woodland sites planted up with conifers over the last 60-70 years. Their restoration is in our view the most significant opportunity open to us for improving the UK’s biodiversity. There are no mechanisms in place to guarantee that if sold to commercial or private interests that restoration will take place.
“Ancient Woodland is our richest and most fragile habitat, our equivalent of the rainforest. Restoring 20,000ha of ancient woodland would be the one of most significant contributions the UK could make to worldwide nature conservation; the proposed sell off must not become a barrier to this significant achievement.“ said Sue Holden, Chief Executive of the Woodland Trust.
The conifers planted in place of native woodland cover many years ago are now reaching economic maturity yet these sites are ancient woods on the brink, retaining against all odds remnants of ancient woodland plants, soils, archaeological features and veteran trees. The opportunity to restore these sites to native woodland is a once in a lifetime opportunity which must be grasped with great urgency
If revenue from these sales does not find its way back into Forestry Commission income streams, which looks likely, it could seriously threaten FC’s ability to support the future planting of new native woodland, which is a major priority for us and for Government response to the climate change agenda, as well as into restoration of planted ancient woods.
The Trust also has concerns that not all public forest land has yet been dedicated under the Countryside and Rights of Way act 2000 for permanent public access; this applies to sites where the FC holds the leasehold rather than the freehold. Prior to disposals of land, public access needs to be safeguarded.
I hope this is helpful for now. We are following this rapidly evolving topic closely and will be sure to keep our supporters up to date with more details and any actions they can take when we know more.
If you do have any further queries in the mean time, please contact me. You can find the link to the press statement on our media centre at http://www.woodlandtrust.presscentre.com/News-Releases/Press-Statement-RE-Forestry-Commission-Disposals-523.aspx, and you can view our thoughts on the matter on our blog at http://wtcampaigns.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/promised-bonfire-of-the-quangos-is-a-smouldering-fuse/.
Regards,
Emilie
