We’re pleased to announce the launch of two major updates to the myForest service. The new management planning template that links with Forestry Commission England is now live, and we have completely updated the mapping tools to create a simple yet fully functional online GIS.
New Management Planning template and mapping composer
Forestry Commission England (FCE) recently updated the template that it provides to support the creation of management plans as part of the Woodland Planning Grant. FCE did this to:
- create a more user-friendly template
- create a template that allows the creation of a management plan that is compliant with the UK Forestry Standard
- provide the woodland owner with felling permissions for 10 years as part of the management plan.
- comply with new regulations including EU Timber Regulations.
We have ensured that users that have already created, or are in the process of creating, a management plan can still access and use the old template (FCE will accept the old template until the end of June 2014). However, if you create a new management plan you will now be taken to the new template.
New Mapping Composer
“A picture can tell a thousand words” and it is no different for management plans and maps, which are an important part of planning for the longterm care of a forest. For this reason we have also launched a new mapping composer within myForest. The mapping composer is a simple Geographical Information System (GIS), allowing you to add layers and labels to a map which can be printed off or saved on your computer, and saved as in pdf format.
The maps generated can be used to provide your felling permissions as part of a management plan or to support an application for a standalone felling licence.
An example Operations map produced using the new mapping composer in myForest
We hope that you like the changes we have made to the myForest service. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have a query about these changes or other aspects to the service.
Paul Orsi, Richard Pigott and Alistair Yeomans
What an excellent development! Looking forward to trying out the new mapping tool.
Nice work – well done. The Small Woods Association look forward to evolving our popular training course ‘Introduction to Small Woodland Management’ to include more use of myForest.
Thank you Mike. We are delighted to be working with Small Woods to support your excellent training course.