Who we are
  • The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading charity dedicated solely to the protection of our native woodland heritage.

Sue Holden. View her biographySue Holden
chief executive.
Biography

 Click here for the Woodland Trust's Memorandum and Articles of Association

What we do

  • By acquiring woodland sites we bring them into our care and protection. Many of our woods were previously under threat from development pressure or unsympathetic management.
  • Woodland Trust woods are sympathetically managed for wildlife and public enjoyment. Our Woodland Officers organise their specialist care throughout the UK. (Click here for more information about looking after woodland)
  • We also replace those woods that have been lost to landscape and create more new native woodland than practically anyone else in the UK
  • The Woodland Trust uses its experience and authority in conservation to influence others who are in a position to improve the future of native woodland. This includes government, other landowners and like-minded organisations. (see our Campaigns section)

What we have achieved so far ...

Woodland Protection

  • Since we were founded in 1972 we have grown to care and protect over 1,100 sites covering 19,000 hectares (47,000 acres). This includes nationally and internationally important sites as well as small urban and village woods.
  • Nearly 350 of our sites contain ancient woodland, over 6,000 hectares, of which 70 per cent is Ancient semi-natural woodland – land which has never been cleared or replanted by man.
  • We also protect over 110 woodland Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), the UK’s finest examples of wildlife habitats.

Woodland Creation

  • We have created 3,200 hectares of new native woodland.
  • Our Millennium Commission backed Woods on your Doorstep project has created 200 new community woods in England and Wales and 50 more in Northern Ireland.
  • We are creating one of the largest broadleaved woods in Scotland at the 4087-hectare Glen Finglas Estate in the Trossachs.
  • We own 20 sites covering 430 hectares (1060 acres) in the National Forest in the Midlands and have sites in all 12 Community Forests across England. In this way we are major contributors to projects which are improving the lives of millions of people.

Woodland Management

  • The Woodland Trust is the first major landowner in the UK to have all its woods certified under the Forest Stewardship Council’s UK Standard of Sustainable Forestry – an independent endorsement of the quality of our woodland management.
  • Several Woodland Trust woods have received awards for good management. This includes Joyden’s Wood in Kent and Willesley Wood within the National Forest in Leicestershire which have both won Forestry Commission Centre of Excellence Awards, and Coed Hafod y Llyn in Gywnedd which has won a Forestry Commission Merit Award.