 Keeping
woodland alive
The Woodland Trust's plan for action
Trees and forests are crucial to life on our planet. They stabilise the
soil, generate oxygen, store carbon, play host to a spectacular variety of
wildlife, and provide us with raw materials and shelter. They offer us
respite, inspire our imagination, creativity and culture, and refresh our
souls. A world without trees and forests would be barren, impoverished and
intolerable.
The importance of tropical rainforests has been highlighted by powerful
images of their exploitation. But our own temperate forests are less than a
perfect model. The UK’s woodland has a chequered history of stewardship and
neglect. Our naturally occurring forests have been slowly altered and
destroyed to the point where irreplaceable ancient woods have become
fragmented and often degraded.
The Woodland Trust has been conserving woodland for more than 30 years and
is now recognised as the leading voluntary-sector organisation devoted to
the conservation of the UK’s woodland. We own more than 1,000 sites covering
around 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres) of woodland and countryside. We care
for places of importance for their wildlife and cultural heritage, as well
as small urban and village woods, and create new native woodland for the
future.
When the Trust was established, the threats to native woodland were often
dramatic: woods cleared for agriculture and development; ancient woods
felled and converted to plantations. Urgent action was needed, so
acquisition became our overriding priority to secure the long-term future of
individual woods.
Today threats to ancient woods have changed. Clearance for agriculture and
conversion to non-native conifer plantations no longer occurs, but other
pressures leading to woodland loss and degradation have grown. The greatest
long-term threat is posed by rapid climate change, which will disrupt and
disturb natural systems. Immediate action is needed to tackle its causes and
to implement strategies so that woodland and wildlife can adapt. This
requires a profound shift in the way we approach conservation and decisive
measures to create landscapes that can meet the needs of wildlife and
people.
The Woodland Trust’s vision is for an accessible and well-wooded landscape,
rich in wildlife and supporting the needs of society in both urban and rural
areas. Woodland should be cared for as a legacy for future generations.
We believe everyone should be able to experience nature and appreciate human
beings’ integral part within it. We want to bring people closer to nature
through the medium of woods and trees. In particular, we want children to
experience and take action for the environment.
To find out more about these aims and long term strategies to achieve them,
please click on the links below. In summary, we want to see:
To discover how we are achieving our vision of keeping woodland alive,
click
here
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