The National Forestry Conference 2024, titled ‘Products, People and Possibilities’, was held at Newbury Racecourse during ‘Grown in Britain’ (GiB) week in October. The conference was jointly organised by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), the Forestry Commission (FC) and GiB with support from Pryor and Rickett Silviculture, Michelmores and Nicholsons. Forestry Journal was in attendance.
IN the second floor Grandstand Conference Room, CLA President Victoria Vyvyan welcomes attendees and sets the scene. “‘Project UK’ needs a healthy forestry industry. We import too much, don’t plant enough, 40 per cent of our forestry is not properly managed and we are insufficiently resilient to biosecurity hazards.
“Environmental growth is delivered by the forestry sector. Well-managed woods and forests lock up carbon, deliver increased biodiversity, enable the health of the nation through access, clean air and water. We take this message to government time and again.”
GiB’s CEO Dougal Driver introduces Richard Stanford, chief executive of the Forestry Commission. In ‘Bringing Meaning to Natural Capital’, he outlines how land managers might monetise their woodlands in the future.
“We speak of a £2 billion forestry industry and 32,000 jobs, but not of the add-ons. Carbon has been monetised (Woodland Carbon Code).” Areas ripe for consideration include: recreation and tourism: nature and biodiversity (voluntary and BNG credits); health credits; flood protection (water credits); soil stabilisation and fertility; air quality improvement and urban cooling.
“Under the Nature for Climate Fund, every pound invested in new woodland creation is expected to deliver between £6.70 and £18.00 of societal benefits.
“How do we make sure BNG pays? The ‘compulsory’ portion will probably be smaller than expected, the ‘voluntary’ portion” making up the difference.
“Land management is a business. If woodland management makes a loss, it will not happen. We need more timber, more resilient planting and to make better use of hardwoods. However, adhere to air quality standards. If you stop firewood sales to the log-burner market, you stop woodland management.”
SESSION 1: Products
Dougal Driver opens ‘Session 1: Products’, covering thoughts on a climate-changing future, properties of the timber we currently have, and potential.
Reflecting on 34 years in woodland management, director of Pryor and Rickett Silviculture Graham Taylor says: “Businesses that have succeeded have done so by continuing to invest in people, systems and products. Those that haven’t have fallen by the wayside.”
More frequent storm events are growing larger with greater intensity, affecting livelihoods, property and producing more wood. “Are your woods resilient and your crops insured? Tree disease is on the rise and there is still the problem of grey squirrels.”
He shows a slide of ailing mixed broadleaves, with ash suffering Chalara and ring-barked oak.
“Forty years of investment down the tube, because of ‘policy’. The situation for oak in France is very different, they do not have grey squirrels.
“Our woods are capable of so much more. We need to solve the grey squirrel problem.” The answer could lie with gene editing.
Adam Ash, research support scientist at Forest Research, outlines the timber properties of larch.
“Why larch? Because despite Phytophthora ramorum (discovered 2009) prompting the removal of larch from much of the UK’s landscape, by woodland area (2021), it is the third most prominent species growing on private estates and the timber will be around for a while yet.”
The UK grows mostly Japanese and hybrid larch, with small pockets of European larch. When considering wood for timber, tests are run to identify properties such as strength, stiffness, density, workability, dimensional stability, durability and permeability.
“Japanese and hybrid larch are aesthetically pleasing, durable, dimensionally stable and good for outdoor use in packaging and pallets, fencing, cladding and for structures such as bridges. What currently grows will make the grade of C16 structural timber.”
Trees resistant to P. ramorum have been identified and placed in trials to try and identify resistant strains.
At the end of October, Forest Research will publish research into the potential of grand fir, Nordmann fir, European silver fir, Serbian spruce, Japanese red cedar sycamore and silver birch for timber production in the UK. “All show promise, but test results are based on only a small number of samples. We need a wider range of samples grown in a range of environments taken from across the country to then run controlled experiments on.”
Polly Bedford is director of UK Hardwoods, a GiB-certified, family-owned sawmill processor in Devon. The company recently invested in the UK’s largest Glulam timber shed. Constructed in just four days from British-grown Japanese larch condemned by Phytophthora, it boasts an 18-metre span. “We sawed, seasoned and kilned the timber (bought from a wood 17 miles away) and took it to Buckland Timber (20 miles away) which designed and manufactured the glulam parts.
“Timber engineering allows us to use wood in construction and we must begin using this technology. We are not Canada – it will not happen overnight – but promotion is part of that.”
Soon, UK Hardwoods will install the UK’s largest thermal modification plant, capable of holding 12 m³ of timber in eight-metre lengths. “It denatures the cells in a vacuum (up to 200 degrees), changing the timber from a hydrophilic material to a hydrophobic material, reducing rot, increasing stability, and in some cases offering life-spans of up to 60 years.
“Increasing demand for British timber in this country, we increase the value landowners can expect from their timber and land, incentivising management in 41 per cent of woodlands otherwise under-utilised and under-managed. What we are after is better trees, better biodiversity and in return, a better planet.”
SESSION 2: People
Chaired by Jane Hull, FC area director – South East and London, ‘Session 2: People’ covers public engagement and managing woods at landscape scale.
Stewards for 600 years, when Guy Nevill took on the running of family-owned Birling Estate full-time in 2017, he began by mapping out what he hoped to achieve. They have since opened a vineyard and have planning permission to build a wellness centre.
Over half of the 700 acres of woodlands are sweet chestnut coppice. “The woods are as protected as it gets, an ancient designation, in a protected landscape and a local wildlife site next to an SSSI.”
Public engagement began in 2012 with a temporary woodland campsite for families “fighting the iPad with the den”. In 2017, it became permanent. Today, 5–6,000 annual visitors stay in 50 pitches (surrounded by dead hedges) spaced over 30 acres, some pursuing bushcraft and craft activities, others yoga and mindfulness.
The estate worked with Kent Wildlife Trust to develop a conservation plan (coppicing and limiting damage to ‘ancient’ ground flora to less than one per cent of the woodland area). “Every year, we spread 100 m³ of sweet chestnut woodchip along a network of pathways.”
Annual sales to campers of 50 tonnes of firewood bring in £500 per tonne, supporting a forestry team and investment in a mobile sawmill (with local authority match-funding). Yet to sell sawn timber, they have provided (small) timbers for an award-winning ‘homegrown cabin’ (kit), lined with dieback-infected ash and clad in sweet chestnut coppice SIPs (structural insulated panels).
“Over the next 50 years, sweet chestnut is forecast to have the highest mean yield class of any broadleaf tree in the UK. Large quantities grow in southern Europe, so potentially it has some climate resilience.”
John Deakin, head of trees and woodlands for the National Trust, explains that with 260,000 ha of land (England, Wales and Northern Ireland), including 34,000 ha of woodlands (26,000 ha are certified PFC, FSC, or GiB), it manages “more woods and ancient trees than any other private landowner.” To reach net zero by 2030, it aims to plant 20 million trees.
“As of this morning, 3.2 million trees have been planted or established, with 4.5 million by 2025 (behind due to COVID).”
He predicts challenges around new woodland creation on farms, where planting hedge and field trees in low numbers is more likely. “We cannot do this without partners and we have to do this together, to stop seeing our differences and realise that we have more in common. We want agroforestry, high-quality wood pasture and productive farm woodlands, ultimately we want woodland creation at scale.”
Landowner and farmer Neil Macdonald of Orchard Park Farm in Somerset is an FC woodland ambassador. His farm includes a 100-acre orchard (60,000 apple trees) supplying apples to the cider industry (and a further tenanted 800 acres around Somerset), grass, and five acres of woodlands (mixed hard- and softwood). Clearfelling 40 acres of ADB-infected ash has paved the way for creative use of the space.
“The business of producing food has never been so challenging or off-putting. How do we de-risk a risky business? Every business reflects the decision-maker and while I am passionate about trees and continue to plant more forestry, it has to add up.”
He receives annual payments from EWCO and has adapted SFI pasture payments into support for newt ponds. “Even with support, taking the farm out of food production and into farming biodiversity, there it is not enough to pay the bills.”
Macdonald’s EWCO scheme covers swathes of countryside. “Somerset clay is low-quality land for food production. The land value has apparently gone from £10,000 per acre to £7,000 because I planted trees. I disagree. I recently sold woodlands at £10,000 per acre for amenity purposes. By growing trees we are improving biodiversity. If we can get people into woodland spaces and to appreciate what that is and it keeps things afloat, great. Income streams have far more interest to me than just being a food producer.”
SESSION 3: Possibilities
CLA President Victoria Vyvyan opens ‘Session 3: Possibilities’. Looking to the future, we hear of barriers, innovation and where forestry expertise can help farmers.
Rob Penn says: “As a journalist, I operate in a space between the sector and the public. Right now, the messaging is not good, even though the sector is more important than at any point in the last century.”
Penn, also a broadcaster, author, small woodland owner, trustee of Woodland Heritage, board member of Whitney sawmills and a founding member of the charity ‘Stump up for Bracken’, understands woodlands better than most, yet he still feels like an outsider. “Maybe it’s not my problem, but yours. Being insular does not help to get your message across.
“Are you familiar with the term ‘social licence to operate’? It is an intangible implicit agreement between the public and those that pursue an activity or industry. Rewilding has one. It happened quickly. Farming still has a high social licence to operate, even though practices are deleterious to soil and nature. Planting Celtic rainforests has one, as does regenerative agriculture. We need to think about why, because coppicing a tree and watching it regrow is regenerative agriculture.”
One way to help could be to improve public access. “The issue won’t go away. In England, people have access to eight per cent of the countryside. We must be aware of this and all commit to education and engagement.”
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From (almost) no supporters, by the end of COVID, ‘Stump up for Bracken’ had 700 volunteers. “We have a social licence to operate, partly because bracken is such a problem. This sector needs a social licence to operate in all fields and we need a good message to secure those licences.”
Dan Geerah, director of growth at Land App, a geospatial technology platform, outlines how to check EWCO eligibility using its free-to-use ‘Checker’ tool.
Launched in 2017, Land App has mapped 10 million hectares of land and has 29,000 registered users (including 5,900 monthly), ranging from farmers, farm groups and supermarkets to environmental NGOs, government land agencies and advisors.
“The Checker takes an overwhelming scheme and makes it accessible, helping a user understand the potential under these schemes and where to prioritise their efforts and resources at the outset.
“Download the app, log in, and enter your Single Business Identifier number.” An eligibility report should be available within 30 seconds.
Forestry Commission agroforestry development manager Jim O’Neil describes agroforestry as “the introduction of more trees in a landscape (mainly) to benefit agricultural outcomes, bringing opportunities for the forestry and farming industries to work together.”
He says: “Agroforestry steps outside ‘normal’ forestry systems. We need to consider the silviculture practices used and to consider new market, outputs and products.”
Involving foresters helps farmers grow quality timber. “There are agroforestry opportunities with individual trees, in rows of trees and in shelterbelts. Converting existing woodlands (in a managed fashion) to support grazing, there are possibilities in that.”
The Agroforestry Show returns next September.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
The keynote speaker is Minister for Nature Mary Creagh, Labour MP for Coventry East. She begins: “I have a relationship with the forestry sector going back to 2010 and the plans to sell off the public forest estate. Forests are an integral part of my brief, as is waste. As a linguist (French and Italian) I have been reflecting on how we can talk about circular economies.
“How do we get people to think differently? I would like to work with you on how we translate your work, making it understandable at a human level, and on how we get that social licence to operate.
“This government is committed to planting millions more trees across the UK. Last year, over 20,000 ha of new woodlands were created, including 4,500 ha of new woods in England. One of our manifesto promises was to create three new national forests.
“Trees provide solutions for combatting climate change, supporting biodiversity, improving air quality, boosting mental health and providing a sustainable timber resource to support livelihoods and up-skilling.
“Our forestry industry gets the most out of every bit of timber, the principle at the heart of the zero waste economy. I am leading work around achieving a circular economy and have asked officials whether we can work to ban wood from landfill. A productive resource going into a hole in the ground is not how we get to net zero.
“Yet UK forestry is under pressure. Climate change is reshaping landscapes, leading to more frequent and intense storms, flooding and drought. Tree pest and disease is devastating large areas of woodland, and deer browsing and grey squirrel damage are threatening today’s woods and those of the future.
“Globally, forests are on fire. In Brazil, the lungs of the world are burning, and German forests are becoming a source of carbon, not a sink.
“Biosecurity is a government priority. The Plant Health regime operates pre the border, at the border, and inland. Swift and robust action is taken against Ips typographus. Responses to further threats must be grounded in science and stewardship, accelerating efforts to increase canopy cover (wider planting diversity) to build resilience while continuing to provide ecosystem services.
“New woodlands alone are not enough. Afforestation of degraded landscapes and rewilded areas – yes, I said that word – where forests once thrived will allow us to reverse some of the damage caused by human activity, but it must be done thoughtfully.” The ‘Land use Strategy’ published in the New Year will include rewilding.
“We must promote sustainable forestry. Currently, 80 per cent of our timber is imported. However, only 10 per cent of our planting is conifers and we must increase this. By increasing management in broadleaf and mixed woodlands, we can bring more wood to market from the woodlands we already have.
“Children and young people are acutely aware of the environmental crisis we face. We owe it to them to protect and regenerate our forests, leaving them in a better state than we found them. We need the next generation of skilled forestry workers managing woodlands for timber and nature and to upskill our workforce.”
A review of government timber procurement policy is underway. If GiB meets the ‘sustainable’ criteria, domestic certification schemes will be recognised in the policy.
Creagh adds: “The threats facing our woodlands are real, as are the pressures on those ecosystems. Stepping into that landscape, it is not just a forest but also a space that offers sanctuary, solace, a space for memory, a space for forgetting. By protecting, expanding and actively restoring our forests, we are not just ensuring a sustainable environment and improving an economic asset, we are safeguarding a place where future generations can find the same inspiration and peace.
“I wish you well for the upcoming planting season. Together we will see that forests survive.”
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