Welsh Journals

COMMENT UPLAND FORESTRY: THREAT OR OPPORTUNITY? Roger Lovegrove Forestry has become an emotive word for many people interested in wildlife and the countryside in Britain and it is a great pity that this is so. A forest should mean so much that is good for wildlife and after all most of us lament the loss of our former forest cover, represented now by only a few fragmented relics, and should welcome its reconstitution. On the other hand, and in actuality, forestry in Britain is largely synonymous with the planting of extensive tracts of introduced conifers. Perhaps one of the main problems for modem forestry in selling its image to the public is that it occurs not in any subtle or gradual way but suddenly, often geometrically and with intrusion, removing at one go what is familiar to us by way of scenery, wildlife and established land use pattern. Even with the efforts of the Forestry Commission since its establishment in 1919, we still only produce 8% of our own timber needs. In future decades with the current rate of removal of the world's primary forests, imported timber will probably not be available to us from overseas whatever price we are prepared to pay. Therefore the Forestry Commission's proposal for up to 4.5 million hectares of new planting over the next four decades has enormous political and economic force, and merits the support of all of us in principle. The argument with wildlife conservation therefore should not be whether such planting takes place, but where it occurs and how it is carried out. At the same time the Commission and the private sector of forestry principally represented in Wales by the Economic Forestry Group have acute difficulty in obtaining planting land free from natural constraints or objections from agriculture, National Park Authorities or other environmental interests. The absence of a strategic land use policy from central government lies at the root of this position and it is a great pity that conflict regularly occurs because clearly there is much suitable land to be found in Wales where extensive planting could be accommodated without serious conflict with agriculture or undue detriment to wildlife. In fact there is much to be gained by the farming community from an integration with forestry and forestry could and should do much for wildlife in providing woodland habitats for a wide range of species including not only those which are already common but also forest specialists which currently are scarce, ranging from woodland birds like Goshawk and Crossbill to mammals such as Pine Marten and deer, as well as many species of plants and insects. In the Forestry Commission's statement of objectives in 1974 it is clearly outlined that "It is the Commission's aim to improve forests as wildlife habitats and to integrate balanced conservation and wood production in a pattern of good land use and sound management". The six years since this statement may be too short a time to seek visible signs in this improvement and integration but I believe that in Wales we are still a very long way indeed from seeing