Why do we need to acquire new sites?
From its very earliest days the Woodland Trust has used the acquisition of woods as a significant way of protecting them.
For the first 20 years of the Trust's existence site acquisition was the only way. In more recent times the legal protection for woodland has gradually increased to the point where direct ownership is not the only means by which woodland can be considered safe from destruction.
However, acquisition remains a key strategy in the way we achieve our outcomes.
We acquires sites though purchase, gifts and legacies of land.
However, before a site is taken on, it has to go through our rigorous site selection criteria and vetting procedures to become part of our portfolio.
Today, our priorities for acquisition have moved to include significant areas of bare land suitable for woodland creation. The taking on of existing woodland now forms a comparatively small proportion of recent acquisition activity. This is because the direct threats to existing woodland are being countered by improved legislation.
However, there is an urgent need to extend and buffer existing ancient woodland and increase native woodland cover generally to counter the impacts of climate change and intensive neighbouring land uses.
The Trust has recently developed a UK Land Strategy to inform the decisions it takes when selecting potential sites.