Government response to Forest Campaign – it’s a Victory, no doubt about it!

05.02.2013

Public Forest Estate – SECURED in public ownership (unclear if in perpetuity), 15% sales – STOPPED, Forestry Commission – given more freedom from Government, Funding – Huge concern, Structure – yet to be decided. Is it just a vote winner or is it actually useful?

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Middle Ground not No Mans Land

05.02.2013

There is opportunity offered in the government response and now policy to do so. It is up to the independent campaigners, including ourselves to keep these doors open.

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Forestry Commission Forever

04.02.2013

Its official. On 31st January 2013 Government confirmed what we all knew and believed: the nationally owned forests of the Forestry Commission are one of the icons of English culture.

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Who will fight for nature in future?

23.01.2013

Independence of the charitable sector is under threat, so who IS going to fight for nature? Asks Sarah Walters of Alvecote Wood

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The Future of the Forestry Commission

23.01.2013

by Rod Leslie.. “For me, the break up of the Forestry Commission is a line in the sand because it will mean the Government will fail to deliver the promise of the IFP report.”

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Government Warned on Public Forest Estate: Get the Economics Right!

22.01.2013

an economic analysis carried out for Our Forests confirms that both the Public Forest Estate and the Forestry Commission represent excellent value for public money.

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Terroir (sustainable land management systems) – a way forward for forestry & farming?

15.01.2013

More forests can repair the damage done, not least in that most degraded of landscapes of all, the urban landscape. ‘Terroir’, the sense of place we feel when we connect to our landscape, a better way forward?

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Politics and the Forestry Panel

12.01.2013

As the Government’s response to the Independent Panel approaches it’s clear there is only one way out of the political mess the Conservatives landed themselves in. That is to understand, accept and take action to turn the panel’s views into policy.

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Public Forest Estate – Open Letter to DEFRA & the Treasury from the Forests Campaigns Network

10.01.2013

We are expecting the government to respond officially to the forestry panels report at the end of this month. In anticipation of this the Forest Campaigns Network has written an open letter to ministers Owen Paterson, David Heath and George Osborne

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Save Farm Terrace Allotments!

09.01.2013

..as with public forests, allotments are ‘green spaces’ that are proven to work for both public well being and biodiversity. We must protect our cultural landscape heritage and protect what few allotments we have…

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HOOF CONTINUES FIGHT FOR FUTURE OF FOREST, FOR FUNDING AND RESOURCES

07.01.2013

HOOF chair Rich Daniels said: “The bottom line is the money. Despite the Forestry Commission and the Public Forest Estate providing outstanding value, anything with a cost attached is in serious jeopardy of not being taken forward. If there is a failure of government to safeguard our Forest and its management, we may have to protest all over again!”

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British Woodlands 2012, Report of Conference on December 11th

14.12.2012

British Woodlands 2012 was organised by the Sylva Foundation, and held at the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford. The aim was to hear voices from owners of small woodlands – the people on the ground who own or manage the smaller woods that form the majority of woodland in England.

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Autumn Statement – Go for Growth – Go for Trees

05.12.2012

At a time when leadership, vision and confidence are all important surely we cannot take the risk of being the country that can afford Trident but can’t afford it’s Trees.

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Children and Nature

25.11.2012

“letting children enjoy the landscape in their own way can be just as effective as any exciting day out. If we encourage them to love & value their landscape, then hopefully we can not only kindle a lifelong passion but help to shape how the next generation will treat these issues

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Hope for the Threatened Ash – Lars Goran-Steiner, Forestry Research Institute of Sweden

19.11.2012

Lars Goran-Stener is a silvicultural scientist, working with Skogforsk, the Forestry Research Institute of Sweden.

He has kindly given SoW permission to publish the results of his research into genetic strains of Ash resistant to Chalara (ash die back), we’ve translated it from the Swedish below.

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Forestry Commission – you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone

13.11.2012

My message to our new environment ministers is this:

Please, DON’T put an NGO between us and those we trust at the Forestry Commission. Particularly over something as important as tree disease and forest resilience to climate change.

Please, DO give the Forestry Commission the resources and freedom it needs to work with us, the public, to advance our multi-purpose forests into a financially and ecologically sustainable future we can be proud to leave our children.

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Zac Goldsmith & CRT call for action on all invasive pests & diseases threatening our trees, woods & forests

07.11.2012

… calling on the Government to invest more resources in the form of a Tree Protection Task Force, not just for short-term fire-fighting when a pest is already present, but for getting ahead of those posing future threats and developing long-term strategies to build greater resilience into our woods, forests and city tree-scapes

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Press Release: Forest Campaigns Network calls for United Action on Ash die-back tree disease

04.11.2012

The FCN calls on ALL organisations – Government departments and agencies, forestry professionals and businesses, the horticultural industry, charities, forest groups and the public – to work together to fight this disease and protect one of our most treasured native species.

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“Ash Die-Back” : Disaster or Opportunity?

26.10.2012

The traditional response to a disease outbreak is initially panic and then to respond with a raft of regulatory measures designed to drive the disease out of the country but…

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Efforts stepped up to tackle disease of ash trees (Chalara fraxinea, ash dieback)

25.10.2012

Disease found in East Anglia in trees not associated with recent plantings of nursery supplied plants… consultation to stop Ash imports through legislation ends tomorrow

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