Why do woods need plans?
Management plans are fundamental documents to help woodland owners and managers plan woodland operations and monitoring over a set period of time. Every well-managed woodland should have a management plan of some sort in place. These can range from a single page with an annotated map to complex documents over 100 pages in length with many supporting reference lists and a series of maps.
Each one of the Woodland Trust's sites has a management plan in place and these are available for anyone to view.
Management plans are one of the key documents which are scrutinized every year by our Forest Stewardship Council auditors to ensure that what is proposed in the plan is reflected on site.
What information do the plans contain?
Management plans provide information about the site, its history and context in the landscape, operations planned for the first five years in detail and 20 years in outline.
Appendices refer to reference information like surveys and species lists and maps are an essential component showing legal responsibilities, conservation features and public access details.
How often are the plans reviewed?
The plans are formally reviewed every five years for those sites with on-going operations. Some of our sites are not actively managed and little changes over a five year period so consequently the plans for these quieter sites are merely updated every five years and more fully reviewed every 10 years.
During their review, all plans are put out to public consultation so anyone may comment on any aspect of the plan. In most cases, the woodland officer will also make a copy available locally such as via a public library. Depending on the nature of any responses received, the woodland officer will use their professional judgment on whether to incorporate the changes.