Reblogged from The New Sylva:

Sarah Simblet and I have a long list of trees to find for illustrating as tree portraits in The New Sylva. We have identified already a few suitable candidates that we will be visiting over coming weeks.  Sarah wants to capture them before they come into leaf so that their architecture can be depicted. Straight afterwards, during the Spring, the focus will shift to drawing as many tree flowers and emerging leaves as possible. We spent recently a wonderful morning at the Blenheim Estate in Oxfordshire, a …

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Reblogged from The New Sylva:

Sarah Simblet has been making the most of the cold weather, retreating indoors to illustrate some of nature’s tiny hidden wonders using a microscope. Exploring the collection of materials at the University of Oxford’s Herbarium, Sarah found a cross-section of a female cone from a Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris. The photos here show just how tiny the sample was, yet Sarah’s drawing may fill a whole page of The New Sylva book. Sarah said that it was tiring to draw the subject when her eyes had to adjust …

The latest post from the blog of The New Sylva book www.newsylva.com

On closer inspection, it became clear that damage some distance further up along the limb had allowed rot to set in, causing a structural weakness in the forked stem. Unusually though, the stem had then split halfway through and its weight had then pulled the entire forked stem away from the main stem, rather than simply splitting near to the original weakness.

Discussing this with the woodland owner I learnt that they have no intention to manage the tree as it is not accessible by the general public and therefore of low risk. I’m not an arboriculturist but I would be interested if any readers have some experience of this type of split. I’ve no idea either how a forester/arboriculturist would go about dealing with this if it was necessary. The amount of tension present would present a tremendous (sorry couldn’t resist it) hazard, and the partially hung limb a further complication.

Gabriel Hemery

My intention was to explore some of the deeper public attitudes to forestry as an industry; what people perceive it to be about, its importance and power. I also asked questions relating to the importance and prominence of wood in people’s lives today.

The questions emerged from some of my personal everyday experiences as a forester in talking and working with members of the public. For instance I have held conversations with a number of people who have felt that trees should never be cut down in any circumstances, and that it is quite possible for wood to be harvested from trees that have died naturally. Question 10 confirms that this view does exist although it is held by a rare minority. Clearly this is a view that demonstrates a disconnection from the realities of the amount and importance of timber in our everyday lives (Q5 & Q6), and that the needs of modern society could never be amassed from unmanaged forests alone. It is also, perhaps, prejudiced by a view that forests cannot be managed sustainably and that forestry is a powerful and harmful industry (Q9).

I explored in Question 8 what activities people thought ‘forestry’ concerned. I was very surprised that 23% of respondents thought that it had little or no relevance to green energy. Within the sector, the emerging opportunities for wood heat and energy are driving forestry policies and seen as the economic saviour for struggling woodland owners. Yet externally it is seen as irrelevant by many. Quite a large proportion of respondents also thought that forestry was not particularly relevant to flood management (e.g. planting trees in water catchments, reducing bank erosion) or climate change (e.g. reducing heating/cooling needs in cities, providing habitat for displaced species). The examples here are my own and were not included in the survey. A lack of appreciation by respondents for the diverse benefits arising from sustainable forest management is the main message here.

I also wanted to explore a fundamental area that I have written about before on this blog and spoken about publicly; namely the concept that cutting down trees is seen as a bad thing, even though wood is commonplace for all of us in modern society (e.g. The Art & Joy of Wood).  I have drawn comparisons between farming animals for meat (shrink-wrapped supermarket meat and the idea that it was once part of a living animal), and forestry and the concept that we surround ourselves with wood in our homes and workplaces yet object to the concept of felling a tree for its wood. I have referred to this using the term nature deficit disorder. I am not sure that I have been successful in teasing out any data on this here so I may need to return to this area in the future.

Gabriel Hemery

Summary results for the 10 questions

Question 1: In what country do you live?

The majority of respondents (77%) were from the UK.

Percentage of respondents from different countries (N=83)

Question 2: Are you male or female?

There was a fairly even split between the number of respondents being male (58%)  and female (42%).

Percentage of respondents male or female (N=83)

Question 3: What category is your age?

Most respondents were aged between 50-59 (N=24), followed by those between 40-49 (N=20). Only 3 respondents were 29 years of age or less. 17 respondents were over 60 years of age.

Number of respondents in different age categories (N=83)

Question 4: Have you ever worked in any of the following professions or consider yourself an expert in any of the following subjects?

53% (N-44) of respondents did not consider themselves to be experts or to have relevant professional experience in a number of related subjects. Among those who did consider themselves experts, 16% cited forestry, followed by 6% in arboriculture. No respondents cited wood technology experience.

Number of respondents with relevant professional experience (N=83)

Question 5: How important do you think wood is to modern life?

88% of respondents believed that wood is very important to modern life; the remaining 18% believing it is quite important.

Respondents' answers to the importance of wood to modern life (N=83)

Question 6: How much wood is there in your life?

This question explored the presence of wood in people’s homes and workplaces. Very few respondents had woodchip boilers at their workplace (N=2) or home (N=4). Most respondents recognised the importance of paper and furniture. Some additional responses to this question included: rustic use in properties, timber-framed roofing, wooden beehives, guitars, carvings, cooking fuel and packaging materials.

Multiple category answers to "How much wood is there in your life?" (N=83)

Question 7: When were you last in a woodland?

The majority of respondents (47%) had last visited a woodland within a week. Two respondents had never visited a woodland. One respondent added that they lived in a wood.

When were you last in a woodland? (N=83)

Question 8: How strongly do you think the following activities are part of Forestry?

This question provoked some complaints from respondents in that Forestry was not defined. Indeed it was not defined but this was deliberate as I was seeking to explore what people believed forestry was about. The activities thought to be least part of forestry were landscape design, followed by flood management and green energy.

I explored these data further by filtering responses from experts and non-experts (Question 4). Of the 18 respondents who cited flood management as being rarely or never part of forestry, 10 were experts. Of the 19 respondents (23%) who cited green energy as being rarely or never part of forestry, 8 were experts.

Nine respondents (3 were experts) cited climate change as being rarely (N=5) or never (N=4)  part of forestry.

Scores for how strongly respondents thought the following activities are part of Forestry. (1) NEVER, (2) RARELY, (3) USUALLY, (4) ALWAYS

Question 9: How strongly to you agree with the following statements about Forestry?

In line with Q8 some respondents complained about the lack of a definition for Forestry. The strongest disagreement concerned the statement that Forestry only concerns timber production. The statement that Forestry is a powerful industry was most contentious, in terms of similarity of responses (15 didn’t agree/17 totally agreed).

I explored further the question concerning whether respondents considered forestry to be an Environmentally Sustainable Industry. There were no significant differences in the responses from Non-experts and Experts (Q4) with both categories having 10 respondents answering Partially, and 2 and 1 respectively answering Don’t agree.

Counts for strength of view on statements about forestry (N=82)

Question 10: Which of the following statements about tree felling do you agree with?

Most respondents agreed with the statement that Trees can be cut down if they are replaced with new tree(s). One respondent answered that Trees should never be cut down, and 2 respondents answered that Trees should not be cut down in my country.

Counts for agreement about statements concerning tree felling (N=82)

The strengths and opportunities of the current research programmes.

 A background paper and two presentations gave an overview of the research which supports forestry in England. Discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the current research programmes raised the following issues:-

• Serious concerns over the ongoing declining spend on forestry research during the current Spending Review period (2010/11 to 2014/15).
• The need for good partnership working and responsiveness in research programmes and between research funders.
• The extent to which research provision was co-ordinated and that the research community was making a strong enough case for future funding.
• The need for effective knowledge exchange between the forestry sector and research providers.
• The need to tackle current pest and pathogen outbreaks; the new Defra and FC Joint Action Plan on Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity was welcomed.

The workshop did not address the organisational arrangements for delivery of forest research in England, but the sector expressed strong support for Forest Research (FR) which is considered to be making a unique and valuable contribution in support of UK forestry.

Future research priorities

Presentations, breakout groups and participant voting were used to identify short to medium and long-term research priorities.   Four overall priorities for research and knowledge exchange emerged as being important now and in the future:

• Valuation of and payment for ecosystem services and evidence in support of woodland creation for mitigation of climate change.
• Research on tree pests and diseases, including invasive species (grey squirrels, deer, wild boar, etc).
• Selection, breeding and silviculture for resilience to climate change and pests and pathogens.
• Understanding the motivations and needs of woodland owners and of those who might create woodlands.

Thirty specific research questions were identified and of these the five considered to be priorities by the workshop participants were (verbatim):

1.      What do we need to do to improve woodland resilience in the face of pests and pathogens?

2.      How to improve the understanding of the special issues of urban trees (importance of pests, climate, species, liability concerns)?

3.      Selection, breeding and silviculture for resilience to climate change and pests and diseases.

4.      How do you get the complete value of a woodland – all its goods and benefits – into the owners’ pocket?

5.      What are the barriers to land-use change – farm and other land to trees, woods and forests?

The following themes also emerged: the importance of knowledge exchange (dissemination), the need to use existing knowledge and monitoring, the need for information on the quantity and quality of the existing forest resource and importance of access to woodlands.  The value of well-managed woodlands in mitigation of climate change is now widely accepted and this underpins the emphasis on woodland creation, on provenance and species selection and on management for climate resilience.

Future research requirements for forestry in England - workshop report

Read the full report

Ghost elm, Oxfordshire. DMC-GF2, 7mm (equivalent to 14mm in 35mm ), f11, 1/125th, ISO100, tripod. Post processed Adobe Lightroom.

In an English meadow, this stump is all that remains of a majestic elm Ulms procera that once typified the English landscape until the arrival of Dutch elm disease in the 1960s.

Reblogged from The New Sylva:

An early milestone in the creation of The New Sylva was reached this week with the completion of one of the first original drawings for the book. Here is a sneak preview of Sarah Simblet’s stunning portrait of a crab apple Malus sylvestris sens. lat. The crab apple is found in hedges and woodland edges throughout most of Europe, except the far north, and across Central Asia. This specimen was growing on the Ridgeway in southern Britain, near to the famous White Horse at Uffington. Sarah Simblet said “It …

The latest post from our blog following the creation and writing of The New Sylva book.

Where we could be – with vision, national effort and political support

England’s woods and forests are embraced as vital to the health, wealth and well-being of the Nation and its people – recognised as having a key role in curbing climate change and enabling human society and wildlife to contend with its impacts. The more frequent and violent cycles of drought and downpour predicted by climate scientists at the end of the last century are now a reality. Our woods and forests are classed as a national network of strategic natural defences.

Following the country-wide outcry against its plans to dispose of England’s public woods and forests, the Coalition Government of 2011 changed tack, turning public brick-bats to bouquets by granting the Public Forest Estate (PFE) full and lasting protection. It received international acclaim following the UN International Year of the Forest with a commitment to restore England’s tree-cover over the next 50 years back to what it was at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 – around 15% of our total land area.

This effort proved to be all the more urgently needed following the near decimation of our native oaks by a series of invasive diseases, benefiting from England’s warmer, wetter climate. Spending on research into pests and diseases was substantially increased, with strong public support.^[1]

Unable to refute the hard evidence of the economic, environmental and social benefits delivered by well-managed woodland, the Treasury approved a long-term budget line for this visionary initiative – unleashing a collective effort from local communities, councils, businesses, private landowners, conservation groups and public bodies across the country. By 2050, over half a million hectares of new planting has been achieved – England’s 21st Century ‘Domesday Forest’ is on-target. As well as helping the country withstand and adapt to the impacts of accelerating climate change, new woods and forests are making communities across England better places to live, pulling in investment and creating thousands of new jobs.

An equal effort has been directed at bringing long-neglected woodland into positive management. Tens of thousands of privately-owned and community-run woods hum with activity – delivering valuable harvests of timber and fuel for heating homes in addition to providing vital ‘social services’ of carbon-storage, flood protection and a thriving network of wildlife habitats.

By 2050, England’s precious heathland habitats have been cleared of inappropriate plantations and returned to their former purple glory. Our remnant ancient woodlands long overdue protection as ‘the jewels in our woodland crown’, form the cornerstones of the Domesday Forest – all those damaged by coniferisation are now under restoration.

Forty years back, foresters and those seeking to make a living from woodland were an endangered species. In 2012, England’s woods and forests supported just over 100,000 jobs ^[2]; in 2050, there are double that number, requiring people with a wider range of skills to maximise the many and diverse benefits that well-managed woods provide. Jobs for young people – a key concern in 2012 – have been boosted by the much sought-after National Forestry Apprenticeship Scheme.

As thousands of long-neglected, shaded-out woods have been brought back into active management, so the numbers and variety of woodland wildlife have burgeoned. With sunlight once again reaching the under-storey, dormant seed-banks have sprung to life – bluebells and other woodland plants carpet the forest floor. The decline of woodland birds has been reversed – the nightingale’s liquid song is no longer confined to poet’s verses.

For all the efforts by individuals, communities, private woodland owners and commercial foresters, this vision could not have been realised without the leadership and strategic oversight of Forests for England – the publicly accountable successor to the Forestry Commission. Forests for England (FfE) is tasked with sustaining the character and diversity of England’s existing and future woodland, while ensuring the long-term commercial viability of our woods and forests. Its advisory and research role is underpinned by decades of practical experience on what is still known as the Public Forest Estate (PFE).

To those familiar with the jargon, what FfE does is ‘integrated land use’. To the rest of us, that means making sure our woods and forests offer they best they can, hectare for hectare, for the good of all – producing valuable timber and fuel, providing access and recreation for people, protecting homes and businesses from flooding, and helping our wildlife to hold on during this period of rapid change through a network of linked habitats.

In 2011, politicians questioned whether the country could afford to care for our woods and forests. In 2050, woods and forests are central drivers of a booming low-carbon economy. Vibrant markets exist for timber, woodfuel and carbon-capture. No urban development is conceivable or permitted without an equivalent investment in green infrastructure – trees, woods and forests are as integral to our urban quality of life as energy, water and sewerage systems.

Something else. Beyond their obvious strategic and economic value, the effort to renew England’s woods and forests has drawn people together, creating a sense of community, place, well-being, and that most elusive of cultural concepts, national identity – which like our woods and forests, seemed under threat in 2011.

Reproduced from Our Forests – a vision for England’s woods and forests

References

1 UK government launches tree biosecurity plan

2 Figures for 2008 taken from the Annual Business Inquiry 2009 and Office for National Statistics regional gVA December 2009 published by the Office of National Statistics.

A Vision for England’s woods & forests:

 -       A new ‘Domesday Forest’ of more than 1 billion trees

 -       All our  public woods  distanced from the control of ‘Big Government’, and given full and lasting protection for ‘Big Society’

 -       A new, independent, publicly accountable body, ‘Forests for England’, with the resources and authority to lead on implementing this vision

Our Forests’ vision includes the ambitious but achievable proposal for creating a new ‘Domesday Forest’: an overall area of woodland on a scale unseen since the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 – when 15% of England’s land area was wooded, compared to under 10% currently. This would mean planting 1 billion trees across over half a million hectares by 2050 – equivalent to creating:

• 10 ‘new’ Forests of Dean
• a dozen additional Thetford Forests, and
• replicating the community woods of the Mersey Forest around a further 50 urban fringes.

“Creating a new Domesday Forest is an ambitious, but wholly achievable target, and one which meets the aspirations of the over half million people who came out across the country against the disposal plans. Getting all our woods working, so that they provide the wealth of renewable resources and rich variety of wildlife they are capable of supporting, is vital. Our vision is about creating real jobs, boosting rural economies, and improving the environment and well-being for communities across England.

Where ministers saw assets for stripping, we see a national strategic resource – critical for helping the country curb and adapt to climate change and even more importantly, for demonstrating the scale of sustained effort required. The benefits produced from delivering our vision are substantially greater than the costs. As it stands, the Public Forest Estate delivers goods and services worth £2 billion annually at a cost to each individual taxpayer of just 30p a year.”

Gabriel Hemery

Alongside planting ‘more trees’, Our Forests’ vision prioritises bringing the 60% of private woodlands that are currently neglected into active management – such that they provide maximum benefits to people, the economy and wildlife.

Robust leadership, long-term commitment and secure resourcing are required to deliver this vision. Our Forests believes the Forestry Commission offers the foundation and skill-base for such a new, more independent body; freed from short-term political meddling and more accountable to the public.

Our Forests vision is being launched at a critical time:

• The Independent Panel on Forestry is holding the first ‘hearing’ (13/1/12) following the launch of its Interim Progress Report and is beginning to shape more concrete recommendations to put to ministers in the spring.

• Yet even as those recommendations are being drafted, the Forestry Commission is being forced to make 25% cuts – staff are being laid off; including key posts managing our public woods and forests.

• Despite the halting of the Government’s wholesale disposal proposal, our public woods are not fully protected from disposal, and some are coming under the hammer.

To accompany its vision, Our Forests is putting 3 key demands to the Government:

1. No sales of any public woods and forests until full and lasting protection is given to the Public Forest Estate overall.
2. Stop the chopping of the Forestry Commission by stealth – the Independent Panel’s recommendations (due in spring 2012) will be academic if insufficient resources of staff and funds remain to put them into practice.
3. Repeal the law that states our public woods and forests are ‘owned’ by the Secretary of State (currently, Caroline Spelman who led the disposal proposal).

“Ministers said their motivation behind their ill-conceived disposal proposal was to reduce the influence of ‘Big Government’ and to increase the involvement and influence of ‘Big Society’.  Well, that’s what our vision proposes – get our public woods and forests out of the hands of distant, detached ministers only interested in short-term asset-stripping and protect them for everyone, for ever.

Contrary to ministers’ outdated views, many people and communities value the Forestry Commission as part of their local ‘Big Society’, and are willing as taxpayers to support it in looking after our woods and forests.”

Rich Daniels, Our Forests

Over the next few weeks and months, 38 Degrees will be sharing the vision paper from Our Forests among its members, to ask their views about the vision for the future of England’s woods and forests. As Our Forests’ ideas develop in the future, we’ll be drawing on the input from 38 Degrees members and their perspectives will help inform our proposal for the future of England’s woods and forests.

Our Forests vision for the future of England's woods and forests

• download the Our Forests vision document
• read the Our Forests press release of January 11th 2012
• visit the Our Forests resources page for background information

Afterlife tool and spoke
Winter ash gale bend and yield
Oak a merest nod

Gabriel Hemery

During the recent winter gales in England I was inspired to write a Haiku poem. The amazing flexibility of the ash Fraxinus excelsior tree means that its wood is widely used in tool handles, sporting goods such as hockey sticks, and in the spokes of wooden wheels. In this short film made amidst a woodland gale, an ash tree waves and yields by amazing degrees in the gusting wind. Nearby (just visible distant far left) a stoic English oak Quercus robur tree hardly moves.

Gabriel Hemery