British Woodlands Survey 2014
Participation in the British Woodlands Survey 2014 so far has been excellent – some 520 people have taken part in Welsh and English. Between them, they own or manage almost 56 thousand hectares (3% of privately owned woodland in the UK). The focus of this year’s survey is on Ancient Woodland and Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites (PAWS), and we are particularly encouraged that respondents own or manage over 14 thousand hectares of these areas, which is almost certainly over 5% of the total.
This represent an encouraging response, yet we would welcome even more responses from woodland owners who may be less certain that they own ancient woodland or those for whom engaging in any management activities in their woodland is difficult. Responses to date have indicated a very high level of knowledge about ancient woodlands and PAWS (though, interestingly, perhaps somewhat lower levels of certainty about identifying these types of woodland), but more information will help enrich these findings considerably.
As one respondent remarked
“We don’t own any PAWS . . . however that doesn’t mean we don’t think it is important . . .”
And in terms of helping shape future advice , another respondent remarked:
“We are a charity with not much knowledge of how to manage our woodland and not a great deal of time to commit. Any partner work, information and advice would be much appreciated!”
There is one more week left to participate – please do spare 15 minutes if you can to add your insights.
