Ancient Tree Forum

6th June 2002 Defining ‘old growth’ in a UK context – English Nature Research Report no 494 by Keith Alexander, Mike Smith, Roland Stiven and Neil Sanderson. Click on picture to enlarge Ganoderma pfeifferi on ancient beech. Photo Ted Green		The ATF report takes the Convention on Biological Diversity definition of old growth and applies it to the UK situation. The ATF concludes that old growth exists and proposes some habitat attributes which might be used to identify provisional sites in the absence of species data. The report calls for a special category on the Ancient Woodland Inventory and other land use registers so that it can be recognised and conserved at a landscape scale across the UK. The report makes very interesting reading. For a copy see www.english-nature.org.uk