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January 24, 2023
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myForest provides support to the Community Woodland Association

in category: FORESTRY, myForest

The myForest team regularly provides support and advice to woodland groups across Britain. Last week, George Dennison (myForest Manager) and Paul Orsi (Director of Operations) hosted a webinar for members of the Community Woodlands Association looking at how they could use myForest to support their woodland management activities.

The Community Woodlands Association was established in 2003 as the representative body of Scotland’s community woodland groups. There are around 200 groups across Scotland, involved in or responsible for the management of thousands of hectares of woodland and open space. Just over half of the groups own their woodlands, the remainder lease or work through a variety of formal and informal partnership arrangements.

Some 40 members joined the webinar towards the end of a cold sunny day to watch a live demonstration of myForest, and to take part in an interactive Q&A session. George showed members how they could use myForest to map their woodlands using different mapping backgrounds, how data layers can be helpful in understanding a woodland, and how users can start to annotate maps with features such as mountain bike routes (a request from one of the participants!). He went on to show how the powerful geospatial database in myForest can store forest information linked directly to a woodland’s compartments and how this information can be used to create a Scottish Forestry compliant management plan, all in one place.

We hope this webinar is the start of a long-lasting relationship between myForest and the CWA, and we look forward to supporting their members as they undertake the important task of managing Scotland’s community woodlands.

Screenshot showing myForest and ancient woodland layer

November 16, 2022
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Innovative support available for existing and new woods across England

in category: Announcements, FORESTRY

Landowners and managers across England are invited to apply for an innovative package of fully-funded advice, providing vital information to support them in taking the next steps in managing existing woodland and/or creating new wooded areas.

The fully-funded advice is being delivered under the PIES (Protect Improve Expand Sustain) project. It is run by a consortium of partners involving Sylva Foundation, the Forest Canopy Foundation, and Grown in Britain, supported by the Forestry Commission and the NFU.

Image (c) Nicholsons Lockhart Garratt

The PIES project includes a network of independent Expert Providers who will deliver high-quality and standardised advice to landowners across England, supporting them in developing plans to manage existing woods and/or for new woodland creation projects. The support will help compliance with the UK Forestry Standard, support achieving Grown in Britain certification, and improve access to the Woodland Carbon Code. Landowners taking part in the project will receive fully-funded support, including one-to-one advice with ongoing online support and technical services. The advisory visit and other outputs have been carefully designed to avoid overlap with activities covered by government incentives. This means that any subsequent activity could still be supported by other grants.

Applications are welcomed that seek to bring existing woodland into sustainable management, and/or from landowners/managers interested in creating new woodland. The advice package is open to landowners and managers in England. It is not open to those with an up-to-date woodland management plan, while those who have the support of an existing expert provider (e.g. land or forestry agent) are also excluded.

The PIES project is funded by the Trees Call to Action Fund. The fund was developed by Defra in partnership with the Forestry Commission and is being delivered by the Heritage Fund.

Applications are now welcome from eligible landowners and managers across England.

Find out more: sylva.org.uk/pies

ENDS

More Information

To speak with a member of the project team, please contact Sylva Foundation:
01865 408018 or info@sylva.org.uk

Applications are invited using an online form available here: sylva.org.uk/pies

The PIES project is funded by the Trees Call to Action Fund, developed by Defra in partnership with the Forestry Commission and administered by the Heritage Fund.

Sylva Foundation is an environmental charity focussing on trees and woodland. It uses its forestry knowledge and information technology skills to provide innovative solutions to some of the greatest environmental challenges facing modern society. Its platform myForest helps more than 9,000 woodland owners and managers care for 160,000ha across Britain. It also provides an environmental matchmaking platform NatureBid which has supported the £24M of funding in the last three years. From its base in south Oxfordshire it runs a Wood Centre and Wood School supporting training and the use of home-grown timber.
www.sylva.org.uk

Forest Canopy Foundation is a not-for-profit partnership of professionals from across the forestry industry who have come together to play their part in mitigating climatic change and reviving biodiversity in the UK. The FCF now manages an innovative scheme combining public and private finance to make it more feasible for landowners to plant trees and is also supporting the industry through an ongoing research and development programme. The FCF has a national network of 11 Expert Providers (EPs) operating under the Foundation’s umbrella. Each EP is certified by FCF’s independent auditor Grown in Britain. Each EP can support landowners with various forms of tree planting, including woodland creation, agroforestry, and hedgerows by providing expert advice and practical support on funding streams available, establishment and long-term management. www.forestcanopyfoundation.co.uk.

Grown in Britain is a not for profit, independent certification body supporting UK forestry and global plant health. GiB works to create a sustainable future for forests and forest products, to increase canopy cover in the UK and to protect our natural habitats from the threat of pests and diseases. Their vision is to put trees and plants at the heart of a healthier, more biodiverse, resilient and prosperous UK economy. www.growninbritain.org

October 7, 2022
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Paradise Wood mapping project

in category: FORESTRY

Paradise Wood in south Oxfordshire was planted by Earth Trust in the 1990s, as a research centre for hardwood tree and is a unique resource for learning and advocacy. Thanks to funding from Vastern Timber, Sylva Foundation and Earth Trust will be working together on a new mapping project, using Sylva’s myForest platform to develop an online UK Forestry Standard management plan.

Paradise Wood mapping project, supported by Vastern Timber’s 1% Woodland Tax. In this picture, Dr Gabriel Hemery (right) highlights the extraordinary growth and quality of a 22-year-old hybrid walnut planted among novel companion species within Paradise Wood, to Tom Barnes of Vastern Timber (left).

Vastern’s 1% Woodland Tax is supporting a project that brings the Sylva Foundation’s expertise in forest management together with the woodland owners, Earth Trust, to help this project thrive in the future.

This woodland management plan will help Earth Trust to fully understand the full capability of Paradise Wood’s precious genetic resources, and Earth Trust and Sylva Foundation with the digital information to engage expert partners who can help realise the woodland’s potential to help society and nature, while also adapting to climate change.

Dr Gabriel Hemery, CEO and co-founder of Sylva Foundation explained:

“Paradise Wood was created about 30 years ago, at a time where there was no investment in hardwoods and a lot of focus on commercial conifers. It was set up as a research woodland. The trials we see here are often planted and replicated elsewhere across Britain, but this is the one site in the country where all those trials can be found together in one place. So it’s a place where not only great research can happen, but also where we foresters can undertake advocacy. We can explain to landowners the benefits of planting one tree or another, and in managing woodland one way or another. It’s an absolutely unique and special place in Britain, there’s nowhere else like it in the country. “

Funding for this project has been provided by Vastern Timber’s 1% Woodland Tax initiative. One of the largest hardwood saw-milling companies in the UK, Vastern specialises in British grown timbers and reserves one percent of turnover for supporting projects that help woodland thrive. The Woodland Tax funding is supporting Sylva Foundation to “read the woodland”, understand what’s growing, where, and why, in a silvicultural sense.

Ian Nutt, Director of Programmes and Partnerships at the Earth Trust, highlighted the value of this partnership:

“Sylva Foundation is an environmental charity helping trees and people grow together by supporting woodland owners to manage their woodlands, but does not itself own much woodland. Earth Trust owns 500ha of land – a third of which is woodland. So, if we work together – Sylva’s forestry expertise with our woodland, their research interests and our advocacy experience – we can create a really powerful partnership. Sylva and Earth Trust were both founded by Sir Martin Wood and, as sister charities, we are delighted to be working together! This mapping project is the beginning of an exciting relationship that we can use to bring on other research partners, and help to realise the potential of this incredible research woodland asset.”

Vastern Timber‘s Managing Director, Tom Barnes, commented:

‘The idea of funding Earth Trust and Sylva Foundation to collaborate here, and make more than the sum of our parts, is really exciting.’

Read more on the Vastern Timber news page and watch the video below

Find out more about the myForest platform, trusted by some 10,000 users to map and manage 160,000ha of woodland across Britain: myforest.sylva.org.uk

June 30, 2022
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Call for urgent action to adapt forests to climate change

in category: Announcements, FORESTRY, SCIENCE

Forestry, conservation and government organisations have come together to reaffirm their commitment to work together to promote the importance of adapting trees, woods and forests to climate change.

The Forestry and Climate Change Partnership (FCCP) has published the Forestry and Climate Change Adaptation Accord which sets out a collective vision that Britain’s trees woods and forests are resilient to climate change and therefore able to meet their full potential to provide environmental, social and economic benefits.

Climate change and the associated environmental impacts including drought, flooding, fire, pests and pathogens present serious threats to the health of our trees woods and forests. There is an urgent need to improve the resilience of both newly created and existing woodland to climate change. This requires significant change to widely accepted and practised systems of woodland and land management. Greater awareness is needed for the importance of adopting a broader range of species, diversity of genetics, age and stand structure, and improved connectivity in the landscape.

The FCCP is working to communicate the case for adaptation, to provide training and education, inform research priorities and contribute to policy development.

Dr Gabriel Hemery, Chief Executive of the Sylva Foundation and Chair of the FCCP, said:

The recently renamed Forestry and Climate Change Partnership represents an unusual level of collaboration and a powerful agreement to work together to make change happen, fast. Our trees, woods and forests are faced with unprecedented rates of climate change and increased environmental threats such as pests and pathogens. Only by working together, and with the support of individual woodland owners and professionals, will we be able to rise to meet these challenges, with an ambition to bounce back better.

The Accord is available on the new FCCP website at https://forestryclimatechange.uk. Organisations are invited to show their support for the Accord by signing up online.

ENDS

Notes for editors:

The Forestry and Climate Change Partnership (FCCP) https://forestryclimatechange.uk is a cross sector unincorporated body which promotes measures which enhance the adaptation of trees, woods and forests to climate change and associated impacts. Members of the FCCP are:

Confor

CLA

DEFRA

Forestry Commission England

Forest Research

Forestry England

Future Trees Trust

Institute of Chartered Foresters

National Trust

Natural England

Royal Forestry Society

Savills

Small Woods Association

Sylva Foundation

Tilhill

The Tree Council

The Woodland Trust

Woodland Heritage

May 30, 2022
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Innovative support launched for existing and new woods across England

in category: Announcements, FORESTRY, myForest

An innovative new project known as PIES, standing for protect, improve, expand, and sustain, has been launched to help with the creation and management of woodlands across England.

PIES project. Image (c)GabrielHemery

The project is funded by the Trees Call to Action Fund. The fund was developed by Defra in partnership with the Forestry Commission and is being administered by the Heritage Fund.

The PIES project will be delivered by a partnership between three organisations: Sylva Foundation, Forestry Canopy Foundation, and Grown in Britain.

The project team is also working closely with the Forestry Commission and the NFU to support engagement, provide advice, and deliver long-term plans to foster and expand resilient woodlands over the next three years. The PIES project is providing a network of independent forestry agents to deliver high-quality and standardised advice to landowners across England, supporting them in planning to comply with the UK Forestry Standard, achieving Grown in Britain certification, and improving access to the Woodland Carbon Code. Landowners taking part in the project will receive subsidised support, including one-to-one advice with ongoing online support and technical services.

The invitation to landowners to take part is expected to be ready from July, meanwhile more information about the project and an expression of interest form is available on the project webpage.

The PIES team combines the strategic work and information technology provided by Sylva Foundation, the network of independent forestry managers supported by the Forest Canopy Foundation, and the work of Grown in Britain in supporting the green economy. Together, the partnership will provide a joined-up approach, supporting landowners in meeting the objectives of the government’s England Trees Action Plan. As all three organisations are not-for-profit, and focussed on delivery of sustainable forest management for public good, therefore the partnership will have a long-term view and ongoing positive impact for the sector.

Dr Gabriel Hemery, CEO of Sylva Foundation, commented:

We are delighted to be working with our partners to deliver this innovative approach to supporting landowners across England. The PIES project will help meet many of the key elements of the England Trees Action Plan, including expanding and connecting woodlands, promoting the green economy, and protecting and improving existing woodlands.

Mr Justin Mumford, Director of Forestry Canopy Foundation, said:

This project will revolutionise the way that we are able to engage with landowners and will open up the critical dialogue needed to address key government targets on bringing woodland back into management and increasing woodland cover. These key natural capital assets can only be enhanced when we have strong collaboration between private landowners and government agencies, and this project will allow for that to happen.

Mr Dougal Driver, CEO of Grown in Britain, added:

There have never been so many opportunities for land owners and managers to provide nature-based solutions for the economy, planet and people. We are excited to be part of this project that will build and sustain vital connections between different parts of the supply chain, for timber, carbon, and the array of benefits that woodlands can provide.

For Editors

Sylva Foundation is an environmental charity focussing on trees and woodland. It uses its forestry knowledge and information technology skills to provide innovative solutions to some of the greatest environmental challenges facing modern society. Its platform myForest helps more than 9,000 woodland owners and managers care for 160,000ha across Britain. It also provides an environmental matchmaking platform NatureBid which has supported the £24M of funding in the last three years. From its base in south Oxfordshire the charity runs a Wood Centre and Wood School supporting training and the use of home-grown timber. www.sylva.org.uk

Forest Canopy Foundation is a not-for-profit partnership of professionals from across the forestry industry who have come together to play their part in mitigating climatic change and reviving biodiversity in the UK. The FCF now manages an innovative scheme combining public and private finance to make it more feasible for landowners to plant trees and is also supporting the industry through an ongoing research and development programme. The FCF has has a national network of 11 Expert Providers (EPs) operating under the Foundation’s umbrella. Each EP is certified by FCF’s independent auditor Grown in Britain. Each EP can support landowners with various forms of tree planting, including woodland creation, agroforestry, and hedgerows by providing expert advice and practical support on funding streams available, establishment and long-term management. www.forestcanopyfoundation.co.uk.

Grown in Britain is a not-for-profit, independent certification body supporting UK forestry and global plant health. GiB works to create a sustainable future for forests and forest products, to increase canopy cover in the UK and to protect our natural habitats from the threat of pests and diseases. Their vision is to put trees and plants at the heart of a healthier, more biodiverse, resilient and prosperous UK economy. www.growninbritain.org

Trees Call to Action