Rapid environmental change seriously threatens the health of our trees and woods. Now five award winning woodlands in England are being held up as outstanding examples of adaptation to climate change.
The Perridge Estate near Exeter and the Morton Hall Estate near Retford jointly won the All-England Woodland Resilience Award for Existing Woodlands.
They both demonstrated what can be achieved by adopting measures including diversifying species and genetics, and promoting variation in woodland structure. Such actions will help mitigate the increasingly severe impacts of climate change, diseases, and pests on our woods and trees.
The Goodwood Estate in West Sussex won the award for Woodland Creation, providing an outstanding example of integrating resilience measures into woodland creation plans.
Highly Commended awards went to Moor Wood in Exmoor National Park in the Existing Woodland Category and Pleasant Wood in Kent, owned and managed by Forestry England for Woodland Creation.
It is hoped these awards will inspire others with responsibility for woods and trees to adopt similar approaches more rapidly and with greater confidence.
The awards were organised by the Forestry and Climate Change Working Group (FCCWG) as a forestry sector contribution to mark COP26. The FCCWG is a cross-sector body which promotes climate adaptation of trees, woods and forests in England.
The judges of the Existing Woodland category were: Dr Gabriel Hemery, FICFor, CEO Sylva Foundation; Chris Sorensen, MICFor, Woodland Resilience Officer, Forestry Commission and Simon Lloyd, Chair of the FCCWG and former Chief Executive of the Royal Forestry Society.
They commented: “All the entries were of a high standard. The winners are considered outstanding examples of adaptation to current site conditions and projected local climate. They evidence a carefully considered and consistently applied balance between financial sustainability, ecological resilience, tried and trusted, and more experimental approaches.”
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Posted On: 26/10/2021