| The Woodland Trust and British Ecological Society are jointly hosting a conference in September at Warwick University on "Restoring planted ancient woodland sites". Last century more than a quarter of our ancient woods were planted with conifers, with dramatic effects on their ecology. Now restoration is becoming an issue of interest to foresters and conservationists alike. Timber certification schemes and our biodiversity commitments both require some restoration of planted ancient woodland
sites.
The Woodland Trust recently released a report "Reclaiming our forgotten inheritance: the race to save Britain's hidden woodland treasures" which highlights the fact that most conifer plantations on ancient woodland sites will be ready for felling within the next ten years. This presents a huge opportunity to restore these sites, but there are many questions to be answered. How should sites be restored in order to best conserve the remnant ancient woodland ecology? How much will restoration cost and how will it be funded? What policy changes are needed to persuade landowners to restore? These are the kind of questions that the conference will address, with speakers from the Forestry Commission, Forest Enterprise, Oxford Forestry Institute, and
others.
A conference flyer and booking form is attached in pdf
format - click here. Hard copies are also available. If you would like some posted for distribution please let me
know.
If you have any queries please contact me.
Many thanks
Sian Thomas
Project Officer - Ancient woodland
The Woodland Trust
Tel: 0191 413 9116
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