Sylva Foundation is delighted to announce the launch of the UKFS Checker tool. Previously known as the myForest Assessor, the UKFS Checker has been comprehensively updated to align with the 2024 version of the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS).
UKFS Checker is designed to enable woodland owners and managers throughout the UK to carry out a sustainability self-assessment of their woodland stewardship. An intuitive and informative tool which is built into myForest, the UKFS Checker has been designed as an easy to use introduction to the complexities of the UKFS.
Structured around the eight chapters of the UKFS, the tool asks users 32 questions covering important aspects of sustainable woodland management such as Biodiversity, Climate Change and Soils. Users are guided through an easy to navigate interface with graphical indicators making it easy to track progress. Support and guidance is provided throughout the tool and includes key UKFS excerpts of the relevant legal and best practice requirements as well as guidelines on how best to meet them. For those requiring additional support myForest links directly to a new online UKFS course provided free through Canopy Learning.
Using a proprietary scoring system that weights users’ responses according to the ecosystem services provided by the topics covered, each completed assessment is given a rating from Entry through to Gold. Once completed a detailed report can be downloaded providing users with support and guidance on where to go next on their sustainable woodland management journey.
If you are a woodland owner, UKFS Checker is not only a great way to find out what you are doing well with your woodland management, and where there might be room for improvement. Doing an assessment will require you to think about important aspects of sustainability in a woodland context, which you may not have considered. Finally, it is also an accessible introduction to the UK Forestry Standard, the national standard for sustainable woodland management, which aims to ensure forestry in the UK is carried out to the highest standard.
For forestry agents, carrying out a UKFS Checker assessment can be a real conversation starter with both new and existing clients. By clearly laying out many of the important elements that woodland owners need to consider when planning and prioritising their woodland management, UKFS Checker provides an opportunity to discuss objectives, management plans and work programmes in the context of the UKFS. It helps owners to gain an understanding of their legal responsibilities, to see the framework that underpins sustainable woodland management, and how it applies to their own woodland. Involving owners at this level can lead to a more collaborative approach, to the benefit of both parties.
UKFS Checker is available to all users of myForest, the UK’s foremost cloud-based woodland management platform, designed by foresters for foresters.
UKFS Checker has been funded by the Forestry Commission’s Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Fund and developed in partnership with Cumbria Woodlands and Evolving Forests
