10 years in the life of a tree is nothing. A few rings of growth, leaf litter deposits, but where, since the scuppered 2011 forest sell-off, has the ‘enterprise’ around trees gone?
I must declare an interest in knotty matters. My father worked for the Forestry Commission (100 years old in 2019) as a District Officer starting in the New Forest and ending in mid Wales. Lucky us as a family being moved around wild, wet, woody parts of Cumbria, west Scotland, north Wales in the name of tree planting and management.
All to increase tree cover from an historic low centuries ago. As if surprising, the UK being the first country in the world to urbanise (over 50% living in cities) in 1861, no wonder we’ve used up all the wood. Burnt for fuel, timber to build ships, prop up industry (coal pit) all lead to a fearful post-WW2 pressure to seek to increase self-sufficiency in timber.
It’s not a clear-cut matter when it comes to the public’s love of trees. Squeamishness towards chainsaws, fussiness on tree species, fear of venturing too far into them (we prefer open woodland savanna), and outrage ensures if contemplating selling public forests.
When, in a wide ranging interview, I asked the then Secretary of State in 2018 about leadership in tree planting from the government, Mr Gove’s reply was luke-warm – mirroring this BBC ‘reality’ check. Some campaigning NGOs may not enjoy any of my five Times letters on ash dieback, but would enjoy my Nature Notebook praising their tree handout.
I realised how selective we are over trees when interviewing another politician. 8 years ago, then Shadow Rural Affairs Min – now Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, Mary Creagh gave me her own copy of a government report ‘Combating Climate Change – a role for forests’ (the Read Report). Although no doubt important, it was quite a dense read!
But also slightly inconvenient as to not fitting the current narrative of native species only please or finding much air time in the Agriculture Act.
Woodland business (so much ‘cuddlier’ than forestry industry) is long term
Climate is one of the biggest ‘influencers’.
Beech are finding it harder to survive in the UK. Flooding and wind-blow knock trees down, hot weather incites forest fires in young plantations, and pest-vectored diseases thrive in the UK’s warm damp climate.
Compounding all this are complex wildlife conservation conundrums. Welfare issues over enforced red deer and mountain hare culls; ground-nesting hen harriers and curlews threatened by both habitat loss to afforestation as well as crows and foxes predators venturing out from thick plantations. Red squirrels, goldcrests, fungi all love conifers of any ilk. Merlin, black grouse have adapted to live on the fringes of them and pioneer tree planting is a tool against invasive bracken in the uplands.
When my father left the Forestry Commission in 1989, he won a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust scholarship which he used to an early instigator of Continuous Cover Forestry in the UK.
A more nuanced form of forest management than ‘plant, thin, clear fell, repeat’. In his own transition in forestry practice, he has been able to critically review a continuum of landscapes ebbing and flowing in response to policy, climate, markets, and public opinion.
While media may be more interested in ‘forest bathing’ than basal area, let’s keep an eye on the stats and getting trees in the ground.
(updated Sept 2019, March 21)
Not forgetting the Forestry Commission wish to develop sites through Forest Holidays which is a private company.
I enjoyed reading this. Both in that I miss my old man, and that there is a need to plant more trees. To this end I am dedicating 2019 to this endeavour.
I am nowhere nearly as knowledgeable as your good self with all the names and such of the trees in the UK. However in the instance of income generation from trees as well as matters of food from trees , the names of the trees of significant cash value need to be studied, the appropriate planting materials tested and then planted. I am in a situation where it is only important to keep planting, very much so against the backdrop.
This is the touching part in that I know my old man would understand and work his best to implement over and above house hold level.
Thank you.
Thank you Masiyiwa for your heartfelt comment from Zimbabwe and wish you well in your tree-planting endeavours.