Multipurpose Forestry

Multipurpose Forestry

The publication of “Broadleaves in Britain” in 1985 marked a turning point in the Forestry Commission’s approach and the partnership with the Countryside Commission to create Community Forests cemented it. The Trust’s earliest dealings with the Forestry Commission had been confined to that of forestry regulator and in some areas landowning neighbour. In the early 1980s our relationship with the Commission largely involved resisting the government’s efforts to privatise or reduce the State Forests or where this was not possible to acquire some of the woods sold. But in the late 1980s their remit began to change from predominantly commercial to a more multipurpose role and it encouraged this approach in others. It had been a slow process.

The concept of Multipurpose Forestry was of course not new. Oliver Rackham had demonstrated that broadleaved woods had survived as long as they had because, for centuries, they had served many and multiple purposes. However, their value to the community had diminished as wood and timber products were replaced by other materials. Woods fell out of management and were neglected, or worse were converted to agricultural land or underplanted with conifers. From the start the Woodland Trust’s proposition had been based on the concept that well maintained woods would provide wildlife habitats, an amenity for the public and could still produce timber.

Started after WWI for purely strategic reasons the FC had combined timber production with an informal recreational role early on and created the first National Forest Park (later renamed Forest State Park). The 1968 Countryside Act gave it formal powers to provide recreational activities, the 1981 Forestry Act and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 encouraged it further. Recreational benefits won through in the battle to avoid privatisation. The 1980s also saw the introduction of MAFF’s Woodland Grant Scheme in response to ECC food surpluses.

There were still anomalies in the Wildlife and Countryside Act leading to planting in the Flow Country, an ecologically sensitive area of peatland in Caithness and Sutherland. Having rethought its approach to Ancient Woodland over the preceding years it seemed extraordinary that the Commission would stumble into a public relations disaster by allowing planting there. Ian Gambles, writing at the time for the Commission’s centenary, describes it as “a painful episode” but a real turning point for the Forestry Commission.