Sonia Hutton-Taylor recently bought a small woodland (part of a much larger 90 acre woodland in southern Hampshire). Sonia is a medical professional but in recent years her passion has turned to woodlands with her dream being fulfilled in January when she bought the woodland. Sonia received a Good Woods visit from Paul Orsi (Sylva Foundation) with a view to assessing how she could improve her stewardship of the woodland. They were joined on the visit by Sarah Greenaway, Senior Brand Manager for B&Q’s One Planet Home programme (http://www.diy.com/eco).
Deadwood habitat in Sonia’s woodland
Sonia was keen to understand how she could start to manage her woodland, what products she could reasonably expect to get out of it and how she could do this while improving the woodland for biodiversity and amenity. Paul explained the principals of sustainable timber yield and emphasised the importance of writing a management plan. Economies of scale are important in such a small woodland and therefore Paul encouraged Sonia to collaborate with the other owners of the woodland to be able to bring viable volumes of timber to the market.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect from the visit but, despite all the training days I have engaged with, I can see that one can’t beat a more tailored approach to ones’ own patch from an expert. In this respect the Good Woods program is inspired and I am delighted to be able to have been an early recipient of that support from someone like Paul”. Sonia Hutton-Taylor
Visit the Good Woods web page
The Good Woods project is a novel project aiming to breathe new life into UK woodlands. The project—a joint initiative between DIY giant B&Q, sustainability charity BioRegional and forestry charity The Sylva Foundation—will revive woodlands to provide environmental, social and economic benefits. For more information contact Amy Hammond: amy@lantern.uk.com
The story i have just read is very encouraging as i have discovered the finantial upkeep of the woodland can be very costly with tools and expenses,and mainly the full time job takes just that time,i wish to be in the wood that i manage encouraging growth and prosperity to the environment.Bringing the city influence to the woodland makes sense,
I would benefit and the wood will benefit most importantly the community, its a great initiative!