Forestry: How Wales' 'unique problem' could see concerns endure

This piece is an extract from our Latest from the Woods newsletter (previously Forestry Latest News), which is emailed out at 4PM every Friday with a round-up of the week's top stories. 

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WHEN it comes to forestry, Wales has a unique problem. 

Unlike England, Scotland, and even Northern Ireland, it has no dedicated government agency for the sector, and a decade of the industry fighting with energy and waste for attention appears to have taken its toll. 

“They (Natural Resources Wales bosses) are trying to put people off doing the job, and it feels like there is an anti-forestry atmosphere in Wales right now,” a timber merchant told FJ, in one of the most damning indictments of the current situation.

When asked how they feel NRW views commercial forestry, the business owner said: “We – as in, forestry – are an inconvenience and they don’t like us.” 

This feeling isn't unique to Wales – and FJ's special report has been shared as far afield as Chile, with forestry leaders citing similar concerns – but the lack of dedicated government agency is (at least in the UK). 

Would resurrecting the Forestry Commission Wales (killed off in a 2013 merger with the Countryside Council for Wales, and the Environment Agency in Wales) solve every problem in Welsh forestry? Of course not; the evidence from the other UK nations tell us as much. 

Paperwork issues abide, as does a lack of coniferous species planting in England and Northern Ireland. But when things aren't going well in the other parts of the UK, it is far easier for forestry officials to take direct action, and we have seen that with tentative changes made to some Forestry Commission processes.  

People might not always agree with Richard Stanford (and he has incurred the wrath of planters for his now infamous 'muppet' comments) but he is a strong, visible public voice for forestry in England. (Image: Stock image)

Having leaders at the top of the public forestry tree (such as Richard Stanford at the FC), gives the sector a voice that would otherwise be diluted. It might not be a voice you will always agree with, but it's a voice that will be listened to by government, and it's hard to imagine someone at NRW – with all of its interests  – standing up and telling people to "end the dogma around conifers". 

And that is probably the crux of the matter. Until that seems entirely plausible, concerns over the industry's future in Wales will endure.