Shimrod I share your views about plantaions

It is estimated that over the last 50 years nearly half of the UK's ancient, semi-natural woodland has been cleared or converted to commercial plantations.

WHY?

Some historical explanations are provided in "The UK Experience" a lecture given by Tim Rollinson, Director General, Forestry Commission at the University of British Columbia Annual Forestry Lecture 2010

"At the beginning of the 20th century, our forest cover was at an all time low - just 5% of the land area.

So our forest history has been one of thousands of years of deforestation. Not only did we lose our forests, we also lost our forest culture. The deforestation had been so prolonged and gradual that we had rather grown used to landscapes without trees. We also lost our forestry skills. We were without adequate knowledge and lacking relevant science. We had virtually to start from scratch.
And that is what we did. Following the First World War, national concern about the lack of timber available to help us fight any future conflict led to the establishment of the Forestry Commission – in 1919. The Commissioners had a single, and simple, objective – to create a strategic reserve of timber. They were provided with funds, manpower and political backing to restore the country's forest resources.

The early priorities were simple. The nation needed timber and the new forests were created to meet the needs of society at the time. The post-war emphasis was on production. The aim was to establish fast-growing plantations of trees to provide us with timber should we face another war. This mirrored what was happening in agriculture, where policy also focussed on production, to increase yields to feed a nation recovering from the war effort. Agricultural policy safeguarded the best land for food production, so only the most marginal land was available for the new forests.

Plantation forestry was seen as the way forward - as the only means of quickly and efficiently establishing new forests. Many of these new plantations were established on upland grazing areas which had lost their tree cover, often centuries before. The range of tree species that could be grown on this marginal land was heavily restricted - with an emphasis on fast growing conifers in the uplands and Scots and Corsican pine in the lowlands. Some of the new plantations were established on the sites of original native woodlands and, believe it or not, some of these were cleared with herbicides to make room for the productive new plantations

THE EXPANSION CONTINUED IN THE 1970S AND 1980S FUELLED BY TAX RELIEF TO HIGH INCOME EARNERS TO ENCOURAGE THEM TO INVEST IN FORESTRY.
THE MEDIA WAS FULL OF TAX AVOIDANCE STORIES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS AT THE TIME. THIS LED TO INCREASING CONFLICT, ESPECIALLY BETWEEN FORESTRY AND NATURE CONSERVATION INTERESTS. THIS CONFLICT REACHED ITS PEAK AT THE END OF THE 1980S WHEN FOREST EXPANSION MOVED TO SOME OF THE REMOTEST PARTS OF BRITAIN"


Organizations like Tree Appeal and the Woodland Trust, mentioned earlier, recognize and promote the need for biodiversity and only plant native broad leaf trees such as oak, beech and ash; the species which are known to best promote biodiversity. As long as this is done correctly and at the right time of year, the saplings will grow well with very little maintenance.

By creating biodiverse inclusive woodland I hope a new generation will grow up learning 'to identify the other living things that we share it with'

more from the lecture