As we come to the end of 2023, I am delighted to report that Sylva Foundation has continued to flourish. In this impact report you will read how our vision of a society that cares for nature, while living with it in harmony, is evident in all the diverse areas of our charity. Fundamental to this are our key values, and in this, our third impact report, I am delighted to share how one of our values – innovation runs throughout our work at Sylva Foundation.
More than ever, the past year has demonstrated how innovation takes many forms at Sylva. While you will read about our exciting projects, innovation at Sylva Foundation is also about our approach – we are a small charity, but through innovation we are able to punch above our weight. We look to the latest technologies and inspiring collaborations; we develop creative ways to support the woodworking sector, and unique approaches to improving resilience to climate change.
This impact report also gives us the opportunity to highlight the wonderful people who have contributed to Sylva’s work. From those in the UK forestry sector, to our new ‘stewardship scientists’; from the participants at our Woodworking and Gender seminar, to our unique collaborations within the furniture industry; these are but a few of those who have ensured our work at Sylva has gone from strength to strength. I would also like to thank all of our supporters, and in particular, our Sylva Friends. The scheme recently had its first anniversary, and is proving invaluable in providing us with steady support, allowing us to plan and develop our work.
I hope you enjoy reading our Impact Report for 2023, and once again thank you for your continued interest and support.
Dr Gabriel Hemery FICFor Chief Executive Sylva Foundation
Over the next few months some exciting woodworking courses are taking place at Sylva Wood Centre that could be the perfect present for a loved one, or indeed for yourself!
Greenwood stool making with Peter Wood – A one day greenwood experience on 10 February, 2024. This course will introduce you to various tools and techniques using simple hand tools, to make a three-legged stool.
Woodworking courses with Stephen Hickman – A range of one-day courses in spring 2024 led by experienced teacher Stephen. Whether you want to learn to hand cut dovetails accurately or experience what it feels like to plane timber with razor sharp planes and spokeshaves these one-day courses have it covered.
Furniture restoration, marquetry and traditional finishing techniques courses with Chris Hyde – in a series of one and two day courses Chris; craftsman, cabinetmaker and antique restorer, will be sharing his knowledge and expertise.
The monthly community lunch at the Sylva Wood Centre is an excellent opportunity to bring together Wood Centre craftspeople, Wood School students and the Sylva Foundation team.
This month we welcomed new community members running their company Foris Studio. John Makepeace, renowned British furniture maker and designer, also joined us and enjoyed talking with our current cohort of Professional Course students. We also welcome Nina who is visiting from France to work with our Master Boat Builder, Colin Henwood.
As part of our outreach work, we have been providing support to undergraduates on the Rural Enterprise and Land Management, Rural Property Management and Environmental Land Management degree courses, at Harper Adams University in Shropshire
Last week, Paul Orsi, Sylva Director of Operations, and Harper Adams alumni, offered two days to support undergraduates. As part of their Forestry Module, students have to design a new woodland, making sure they take into account factors such as designations, soil and future climate scenarios. Paul demonstrated how myForest could help design their new woodland spatially using the mapping tool, in addition to understanding woodland creation considerations using the woodland creation plan embedded into myForest. As part of this work Sylva Foundation has provided access to paid account plans for all of the students while they work on their assignment.
“We really appreciate the contribution which the Sylva Foundation makes to our forestry modules at Harper Adams. Not only do they provide face to face tuition and access to myForest but our students tell us that they feel more confident in expressing their ideas around woodland creation after these sessions. Thanks to Sylva Foundation for being such an important part of encouraging young people into woodland management at Harper Adams.”
Nick Covarr Lecturer in Forestry & Woodland, Harper Adams
Nick Covarr (left) and Paul Orsi (right)
“I love getting out and talking to the next generation of land managers. We hope myForest can help them to design the well thought through sustainable woodlands we need for the future and be able to take those skills into practice when they have graduated.”
Paul Orsi, Sylva Foundation
An innovative training course took place in collaboration with the Northwoods Innovation Programme to trial planned enhancements to the myForest Inventory system.
At the end of September, woodland owners and managers had the opportunity to test new myForest Inventory functionality that helps them to collect and process forest data. Funded through the Forestry Commission’s Forestry Innovation Fund, the course was run by the myForest team and with experienced forester and trainer Will Richardson of RDI Associates. The course kicked off in the classroom to provide the context for a woodland inventory and how it can help woodland owners get the most out of the woodland. The group then headed out into the woods to collect data; while the last section of the course focused on the woodland owners producing a woodland inventory in myForest.
The aim is to help demystify and streamline the inventory collection process and automate data calculations, allowing owners and managers to quickly read what is in their woodland. myForest is aiming to launch the enhanced Inventory functionality early in 2024, but if you have any questions beforehand, please get in touch.
A new video has been released to showcase the innovative training course that took place in collaboration with the Northwoods Innovation Programme to trial planned enhancements to the myForest Inventory functionality. See below.
Sylva Foundation is proud to launch an innovative new project for myForest users called Forest Lab, in partnership with Forest Research. This exciting initiative uses the latest technology to advance knowledge exchange between landowners and scientists; the collection and sharing of data by volunteer ‘stewardship scientists’ aims to improve forest resilience, enhance forest biodiversity, and protect nature and the landscape.
“Forest Lab started as a simple idea; ‘wouldn’t it be good if myForest users could help researchers?’ This was quickly followed by; ‘and how can researchers help myForest users on issues impacting their forests?’ This two-way exchange is the foundation of what has become Forest Lab. By collecting and sharing data, Forest Lab will support research to improve forest resilience and enhance forest biodiversity across Britain.”
Gabriel Hemery, Chief Executive, Sylva Foundation
Background of Forest Lab
The idea of Forest Lab is built on the success of myForest, the flagship project of Sylva Foundation. The past 10 years has seen myForest grow to more than 10,000 users, who use the innovative digital platform to manage 185,000+ hectares of forest, and 1,200+ hectares of forest creation schemes. With myForest users collaborating with forestry scientists and researchers, there is a unique opportunity to collect and share data that will have an impact, not just on individual private woodlands, but on the resilience of forests right across Britain.
In collaboration with Forest Research, Sylva Foundation secured a three-year grant from Defra in 2022 to explore how myForest users can contribute to forest management and forestry science. A feasibility study then followed, with 158 myForest users responding positively to the concept of ‘stewardship science’ through Forest Lab. The first Alpha testing phase consisted of a small number of myForest users selected from the survey, who helped shape, test and develop the Forest Lab model. The recently completed second Beta testing phase was built on the users’ feedback, with more volunteers given the opportunity to join Forest Lab through a link appearing in their myForest account.
Funding for this work has been provided by Defra under its Future Proofing Plant Health project.
“Apart from learning more about your own woodland, you’ll hopefully get more out of it than you contribute in terms of feedback on your data, contact with others and gaining practical knowledge.”
Justin Thomas, Tree Growth ‘Stewardship Scientist’, Forest Lab
Forest Lab Model
Forest Lab is rooted in Sylva Foundation values of innovation and collaboration. Working on a ‘plug in and play’ model on the existing myForest digital platform, Forest Lab is built on a two-way commitment between myForest users and scientists. This reciprocal arrangement ensures that by agreeing to collect and share inventory data, myForest users benefit from the unique opportunity to learn from their evidence, as scientists in turn share the latest research and advances in forest management and forestry science.
Future Plans
There are many exciting opportunities with the evolution of Forest Lab. In the long term, there is the possibility of utilising Forest Lab’s agility to provide an early warning system to threats to our forests. The short term focus will be on rolling out specific projects such as Wildfire to ensure both myForest users and scientists benefit from essential research into existing and emerging issues that affect the resilience of forests across Britain.
The trustees of Sylva Foundation are pleased to release the formal report from the board for 2022-23 and the independent accounts produced by our financial auditors.
2022-2023 at a glance
launched PIES, (protect, improve, expand and sustain) an innovative project to help with the creation and management of woodlands across England
10,000 forest owners and managers used myForest to map more than 185,000ha of forest
continued to support Defra under the Resilient Treescapes Project
awarded ‘Best Range’ for the Wood School collaboration with the National Trust at the Association for Cultural Enterprises awards
ran the third annual Sylva Wood Summer school in collaboration with the V&A Museum
Two-thirds of the Sylva Wood School Professional course students secured jobs within the industry within 3 months of completing the course
released our position statement on Sourcing and Using Home-Grown Wood Products
started development of Forest Lab – a stewardship science project, with the help of feedback from 158 myForest users
An innovative Woodworking and Gender Seminar was hosted by Sylva Foundation on October 13, 2023.
More than 70 participants came together at the Sylva Wood Centre for a day of talks, workshops and discussions around gender equality in the woodworking industry. Initial feedback has focused on the seminar not just being a success in bringing together people from across the sector to discuss gender equality, but the breadth of stories and experience shared by everyone.
The seminar started with four remarkable talks from Sylva Wood School graduates and Summer School alumni: Beth Meehan, Katy Thompson, Hannah Girvan and Rachel Cox. They shared their diverse experiences of working in the woodworking sector, and everyone was impressed by their composure and candour, which set the perfect tone for the rest of the day.
‘There really was magic in the air. We felt privileged to take part and to meet the incredible women and supporters in the room.’
Participants were then split into groups for three different activities: sharing positive experiences of gender diversity in the sector; what does an inclusive workplace look/feel like; and bridging the gap – prioritising activities of our future programme. Not only did participants have excellent suggestions and advice to improve gender diversity, but the activities were a great opportunity for people to get to know one another and share stories.
After an excellent lunch provided by social enterprise Damascus Rose Kitchen, and a guided walk in the Future Forest with Gabriel Hemery, Sylva CEO, everyone came together for the panel discussion with employers and industry professionals. Alice Blogg – Designer-Maker & Creative Director Arttus Interiors, Camilla McLean – Managing Director Matthew Cox, and Kay Chattun – Managing Director Lacaze London, shared advice and experience, and answered many questions ranging from highlighting the benefits of employing a diverse workforce to challenges of being pregnant in the workshop. This session was expertly chaired by Dr Lynn Jones. Meanwhile, Alys Bryan had the challenging task of summarising the day and drawing some conclusions which she rose to with aplomb.
We would like to say a big thank you to everyone involved in the Woodworking and Gender Seminar. Along with the Gender Equality Survey, this opportunity to learn and hear diverse stories will provide the foundations for our new programme of work to support an inclusive and accessible woodworking sector into the future.
We are especially grateful to Vastern Timber who awarded Sylva Foundation a grant as part of its 1% Woodland Tax programme in support of this seminar.
We have been proud to support an important research exercise horizon scanning issues that are likely to affect forest management in the UK within the next 50 years. Sylva Foundation CEO Dr Gabriel Hemery was one of the co-authors of a scientific paper published today in the International Journal of Forest Research.
A well-used horizon scanning methodology was adopted by a diverse Expert Panel who collated and prioritised a long-list of 180 issues to arrive at a final list of 15 priority issues.
The Fifteen Issues
The 15 horizon scan issues identified were as follows
Catastrophic forest ecosystem collapse
Increased drought and flooding change the social costs and benefits of trees
Forest management becomes more challenging due to changing seasonal working windows
Protecting and enhancing soil microbial ecology becomes a higher priority
Viruses and viroids emerge as pathogens of increasing importance for trees
eDNA revolutionizes our understanding of forest ecosystems
Trees are at the heart of future urban planning
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) drives transparency and investment in nature-positive management
Natural capital funding streams are greatly upscaled
New technologies facilitate widespread adoption of smart silviculture
New technologies improve worker health and safety
New wood product markets stimulate more active forest management
UK commercial forest resources may not match future value chains
Unpredictable supply and demand dynamics in global wood product markets
International commitments will spotlight ecosystem integrity and drive monitoring efforts
“The issues represent a diverse range of themes, within a spectrum of influences from environmental shocks and perturbations to changing political and socio-economic drivers, with complex emerging interactions between them. The most highly ranked issue was ‘Catastrophic forest ecosystem collapse’, reflecting agreement that not only is such collapse a likely prospect but it would also have huge implications across the sector and wider society.”
Tew et al. (2023). “A Horizon Scan of Issues Affecting UK Forest Management within 50 Years.” Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research.
Thematic analysis of workshop discussions. The coloured panels on the left and right, and circle in the middle, indicate the three major categories that were identified. Key themes are indicated by the white squares and boxes. Rounded triangles denote issue numbers placed against the part of the model they most closely align to.
Citation:
Tew, Eleanor R, Bianca Ambrose-Oji, Malcolm Beatty, Ulf Büntgen, Holly Butterworth, Gerard Clover, Dan Cook, et al. 2023. “A Horizon Scan of Issues Affecting UK Forest Management within 50 Years.” Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research, November, cpad047. Read full article
Following the launch of the government-funded PIES project last year, we are pleased to announce the expansion of the project thanks to additional funding provided by Forestry Commission.
What is the PIES project?
PIES (Protect Improve Expand Sustain) is a government-funded project. It is providing a network of independent woodland experts to deliver high-quality free advice to landowners across England. The project aims to support landowners in bringing existing woodland back into management and to support woodland creation projects. Farmers and landowners taking part in the project receive free advice, including a site visit and customised report, plus ongoing online support and technical services. The PIES project is led by a partnership involving Sylva Foundation, Forest Canopy Foundation and Grown in Britain, supported by the NFU and Forestry Commission.
PIES project to date
91 advice visits underway
3,157ha assessed
114ha of new woodland proposed
463ha of woodland in active management
The Free Advisory Visit
The free advice and site visit helps landowners to develop outline plans for existing woodlands, and plans and budgets for new tree planting. The first step for successful applicants is to choose who to work with, selected from a choice of three local expert providers offered by the Forest Canopy Foundation.
The PIES expert provider initially gathers information, maps and plans on behalf of the client, and then agrees the time and scope of a site advisory visit.
Following the initial advice and visit, digital plans and maps will be shared with the landowner via a free account on the myForest platform run by Sylva Foundation. The platform provides ongoing support to the landowner, while simplifying the process of applying for government incentives and meeting regulatory requirements.
Another valuable part of the PIES offer is the Grown in Britain Forest Certification which is offered free for one year, supporting eligible landowners in making the most of their woodland resource.