Planted ancient woodland sites (PAWS)
The first step in restoring ancient woods is identifying what remnants remain and prioritising action in terms of urgency.
Restoration usually involves gradual removal of the non-native conifers to increase the light levels.
However, it is a long term process, which cannot happen overnight. It takes many years.
The Woodland Trust is restoring all its own woods. We also want to actively encourage other landowners to restore their sites. To this end, we are working on partnership projects with other landowners to help them restore their sites too. Since 2002, restoration has begun on over 6400 hectares (15800 acres).