The Woodland Trust Estate: Championing Sustainable Woodland Management

The Woodland Trust owns and manages over 1,250 sites, covering nearly 30,000 hectares. This includes ancient semi-natural woodlands, non-native plantations on ancient woodland sites, and newly created native woodlands. Additionally, the Trust oversees other valuable habitats such as grasslands, heaths, ponds, lakes, and moorlands. With around 40% of these sites located in urban areas, the Trust faces unique management challenges due to the fragmented nature of its estate.

Strategic Vision

The Woodland Trust’s strategic vision is to create “A UK rich in native woods and trees for people and wildlife.” To achieve this, the Trust focuses on three main objectives:

1. Creating Woodland: Championing the need to significantly increase the UK’s native woodland and trees.
2. Protecting Woodland: Defending native woodland, especially irreplaceable ancient woodland and ancient and veteran trees.
3. Restoring Woodland: Ensuring the sensitive restoration of all damaged ancient woodland and the re-creation of native wooded landscapes.

People-Centric Conservation

A common thread throughout these objectives is the emphasis on people. The Trust places significant importance on connecting and engaging people with woods and trees. The support of members, supporters, neighbours, visitors, and volunteers is crucial for managing the estate. The Trust’s management principles are driven by its charitable purposes, focusing on improving native woodland biodiversity and enhancing people’s understanding and enjoyment of woodlands.

Addressing Environmental Challenges

The Woodland Trust’s estate plays a key role in addressing climate change, the nature crisis, tree health, and wildlife recovery programmes. Each site has a dedicated manager, and the Trust encourages public feedback on management plans. The estate is managed to the UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS) and certified with the Forest Stewardship Council? (FSC?).

Holistic Management Approach

The Trust manages its sites not as isolated reserves but holistically, considering the local and wider landscape context. This approach includes offsetting management costs with income from grants, sponsorships, and the sale of wood products, without compromising conservation objectives or biodiversity.

Management Principles

1. Maintaining Key Features: The Trust manages woods to maintain their intrinsic value and reflect the surrounding landscape. Interventions are based on evidence to improve biodiversity, safety, and resilience.
2. Establishing New Woodland: The Trust establishes new native woodlands using natural regeneration or planting, involving local communities where possible.

Challenges and Threats

Woodlands face numerous threats, including climate change, pests and diseases, pollution, herbivore browsing pressure, habitat fragmentation, and invasive species. The Trust’s management approach aims to enhance the resilience of woodlands, ensuring they contribute to wider landscape resilience.

The Woodland Trust’s approach to estate management is a comprehensive strategy that balances conservation, community engagement, and environmental resilience. By focusing on creating, protecting, and restoring woodlands, the Trust aims to build a UK rich in native woods and trees for the benefit of both people and wildlife.

If your businesses would like to support us in our mission and estate management, then do email us at: [email protected]

management-of-the-estate.pdf (woodlandtrust.org.uk)