The issue
Ancient woodland is one of the great glories of our natural heritage.
Ancient woods are our richest habitat for wildlife; they are places of
inordinate beauty, reservoirs of evidence for environmental change,
archaeology and economic history, and a source of inspiration. Ancient
woods form a direct link with the original wildwood which became
established after the last Ice Age.
Those special areas of ancient woodland that have not been cleared or
replanted are known as ancient semi-natural woodland (ASNW). Our
remaining ancient woodland is scarce, covers less than 2 per cent of the
UK and cannot increase, so what survives is infinitely precious.
Yet almost 50 per cent of what little remained of ancient woodland in
the 1930s has been lost or degraded, mainly through conversion to
conifer plantations and clearance for agriculture. These depredations
have ceased, but ancient woodland continues to be lost; house building,
transport and infrastructure development, inappropriate leisure and
amenity development, overgrazing and the continued presence of
non-native conifer plantations still damage and destroy ancient woods.
Only 194,000 hectares of ASNW survive in England, 27,000 hectares in
Wales and 65,000 hectares in Scotland.
Analysis of the size of ancient woods shows how fragmented they have
become: 48 per cent of ancient woods identified are less than 5 hectares
in size. Only 617 exceed 100 hectares. There are just 46 ASNW larger
than 300 hectares.
A small sample of ancient woodland is designated for its scientific and
conservation importance. However, the designations lack the teeth to
give full protection to these sites. The vast majority of ancient
woodland has no protective designation whatsoever.
A picture emerges of a highly fragmented, largely unprotected residue of
ancient woodland, which continues to be threatened and lost.
Where the Trust is now
- When woodland was
being lost to agriculture, the Woodland Trust protected it through
acquisition. We have more than 350 sites that contain ancient
woodland: more than 6,000 hectares in all. But acquiring ancient woods
is no longer always the answer.
- To meet the
threats now faced by ancient woodland, we lobby for protective
legislation, regulation, incentives and guidance; we support local
community campaigns and fight to save individual ancient woods.
- We are creating an
inventory of ancient woodland for Northern Ireland, consistent with
the rest of the UK.
- We have increased
public awareness of the importance of ancient woodland through the
media.
What we would like
to see
- No further loss of
ancient woodland.
- Protection of all
ancient woodland through legislation and planning guidance.
- Regular review of
the ancient woodland inventories; recording of any losses.
- Better guidance
and incentives for owners of ancient woodland.
How we will
achieve this
We will:
- Acquire ancient
woods that are threatened, where this is the best way to protect them.
- Campaign for
woodland at a UK, country, regional and local level.
- Contest adverse
planning decisions; and help individuals and communities to fight
cases of woods under threat.
- Complete an
ancient woodland inventory for Northern Ireland and help to maintain
other ancient woodland inventories.
- Help people to
understand the value of ancient woodland.
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Hyning Scout Wood, Lancashire.
Photograph: WTPL |
The UK Forest Partnership for Action, a partnership of UK
government, industry and environmental organisations including the
Woodland Trust, committed the UK to ‘develop joined-up approaches
to ensure effective support for protection and restoration of
wooded landscape habitats, including the establishment and
management of protected areas, to ensure that all ancient woodland
is adequately protected’ in a declaration to the Johannesburg
Earth Summit in 2002. It also included a commitment to targeted
woodland expansion.
Construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link destroyed part of
Ashenbank Wood, Kent:
Photograph: WTPL/John Tucker |
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