A better future for our woodlands:12 ideas to help British forests grow

[@anemone104]

Interesting post... I'm going to pick out these for comment:- I like Item 12 but it is incomplete. Here's why: Aftercare and management need . No mention of this - historically there has never been the dosh to 'encourage' the authors of planting schemes to do aftercare. This includes the National Trust, Councils and the Woodland Trust as well as private landowners. Aftercare also needs to be monitored. As a practicing ecologist who travels around southern England, I have lost count of the number of plantings I have seen which are un-thinned, still with guards in place, ties biting into trunks and stakes flapping off the trunks and no longer attached to the ground. Or brittle old tubes littering closed-canopy woods because the trees have died (due to lack of light?) and no-one could be arsed to beat up or even clear away/re-use the tubes and stakes. Number 11. Everyone bangs on about planting. Planting is a deeply flawed tactic which should be part of a wider strategy towards a sustainable future including carbon capture by woodlands and by other habitats which beat woodlands from the 'carbon sequestration' standpoint. Number 3. Yes, funding is an absolute necessity. Also a properly formulated policy, currently distincly lacking. Other issues. No mention (as usual) about coppicing. Huge historical/cultural value, but now-detached from the consciousness of the general population. As well as the divorced from the perceptions of the experts seen here, despite being vastly superior to planted trees in terms of growth rates (carbon capture rates), not mentioning nature conservation value. No mention (also as usual) for deer. Deer populations are far higher now than they have ever been in recorded history. and not just the native roe, but sika, fallow and muntjac. (Red deer are not present in my usual stamping grounds). Go into any woodland in the south and southeast of England and if you open your eyes you will see the huge effects they have. Deer are part of the equation and are a potential resource, so why is there never any mention of this 'elephant-in-the-room'? Coppice and plantings and natural regeneration schemes all need protecting from deer to be efficient and successful. Number 9: Not going there: There is so much wrong with this...... Shutting up now....

[@giovannifunaro5408]

I think the 19% Canopy idea is the top idea with everything else working up to it.

[@RonaldL.MAngela.vaught17HH]

The tech thats been used on me & others tells me the public is working a lot harder than th ey have too to balance the environment. its just so advanced many don't know it exists annd afraid of using it because its so advanced.

[@RonaldL.MAngela.vaught17HH]

Grey Squirrels solutions discourage breeding or interbreed with another type that breed less &or teach them to eat differently

[@oldmanonamission8055]

Warming 🤣 Not in the UK it isn't

[@thatundeadlegacy2985]

wasnt the uk just 30 degrees