Articles

Views from the SOW team and guest contributors.

If you would like to see your article published on Save Our Woods, please get in touch, we’d love to know your opinion too.

National Forestry Stakeholder Forum – erm.. where is it?

30.09.2012

The fight to protect our English forests continues. Somethings not right. Where is the promised National Forestry Stakeholder Forum? Where is the campaign groups hello from the new ministers?

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Making Connections – A Photography Exhibition in the Woods

21.09.2012

Sarah Walters of Alvecote Wood and the Small Woodland Owners Group shares with SoW her breathtaking photography exhibition, held in the most beautiful gallery there is; her woodland, Alvcote Wood

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Why Bees Need Trees

13.09.2012

Brigit Strawbridge explains why trees are vital for bees and why bees are vital for us all.

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Taking Green for Granted

01.09.2012

‘This green and pleasant land’ as celebrated at the opening ceremony of the Olympics is due to Britain’s very enviable climate which keeps it green. For how much longer though?

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I am a commercial forester. I make my living helping my clients grow trees, cut them down and then sell them to other people who make things out of the timber. I want what I do to have the maximum benefits with least damage. I work to make what I do sustainable. I am passionate about what I do – but I operate in a World of real money, real constraints and real opportunities.

These opinions are mine. They are not my company’s.

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Campaign update from the Tree Savers

04.08.2012

from Penny of Tree Savers “..Whitstable protested against Network Rails tree clearance policy – or should I say it’s ‘Scorched earth’ policy..”

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Biomass for Biofuel – A Black Hole for British Biodiversity

26.07.2012

On the 25th July the UK government announced continued subsidies for electricity production from biomass, which according to the UK government will help meet its renewable energy targets. The same day, Drax confirmed it would be converting a North Yorkshire power plant for using ‘mainly biomass’.

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A Woodland Culture

20.07.2012

As I step off the ride into the coppice I imagine a cowled and tonsured figure beside me. Here in Leigh Woods near Bristol we know from written records that the Monks of Leigh Abbey were managing these woods in just the same way at least 800 years ago.

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Thoughts after the Forest Panel Stakeholder Meeting

17.07.2012

Our friendly analyst has shared some thoughts with us following the Forestry Panel’s stakeholder meeting on the 10th July. Particularly focusing on the written ministerial statement from the Secretary of State Caroline Spelman. You can read the ministers’ statement with our comments attached here: Caroline Spelman – Written ministerial statement, Forestry Panel Report – What she really meant

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Network Rail is starving the urban and peri urban landscapes of the UK of biodiversity

15.07.2012

Network Rail are custodians of the largest green artery to connect our rural and urban landscapes – those few metres of land either side of a rail track our biodiversity depend upon. A charge they do not take proper responsibility for.

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England’s Woodland Culture: Forestry Panel Report Stakeholder Meeting – 10th July 2012

13.07.2012

An historic event that punctuates a pivotal moment in our forests history! The future of our forests and trees has changed forever…

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Expert analysis of the Independent Forestry Panel Report

08.07.2012

A friendly analyst within Government has helped SoW understand the shape and depth of the Forest Panels report and suggests how we can help encourage Government to develop the recommendations into forest policy for England’s woodlands and forests, both public and private. Summary The report makes a real attempt to address the impossible task […]

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SoW Response to Independent Forestry Panel Report

04.07.2012

“I am convinced that without a living discussion, based on facts about our forests, we will be less able to meet all contrasting goals. I am also convinced that we will never come to a final answer. This is not necessarily a problem since it is the discussion itself that is important.”

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Our Forests initial response to Independent Panel on Forestry’s Final Report

04.07.2012

The Bishop’s report – like the Curate’s Egg – very good in parts, with some ‘runny’ bits…

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Independent Panel on Forestry – PRESS RELEASE

04.07.2012

The Independent Panel on Forestry, set up to advise the Government on the future of England’s forests and woodlands, has today (4 July) published its final report to Government.

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Meeting of forest campaigners and Lord Taylor, forestry minister – 2 July 2012

03.07.2012

Statement from the forest campaign groups that attended a meeting at DEFRA with forest policy makers… or …How the meeting went!

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Forest campaigners to meet minister for forestry policy, Lord Taylor

01.07.2012

Tomorrow I join 5 other forest campaigners and head to London to meet with the minister responsible for forest policy in England, Lord Taylor of Holbeach.

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Deep sustainability and the art and politics of forests

29.06.2012

Cathy Fitzgerald is a rural-based experimental filmmaker/visual artist with a background in research biology, looking at experimental film & ecology in this age of biospheric crisis. Her writing and films on ‘The ecocidal eye: towards a relational gaze in cinema’ can be seen at: www.ecoartflm.com

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Friends of Thetford Forest ready to fight further threats to our Public Forest Estate

20.06.2012

Forestry Panel report to be published on 4th July. Friends of Thetford Forest are ready to oppose any further threats to our forests, with the support of its members and the wider community..

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