Landscape Learning

As part of our continuing learning, this summer we took the opportunity to enlist the help of Roger Worthington (Plan Vision) and Gareth Price (GIDE Associates) to host a Woodland Creation and Landscape Masterclass training day. 

Roger and Gareth are both national leaders in woodland and landscape design, with many years of experience within the sector and have been sharing their knowledge with Community Forests across the country. 

Woodland design is an essential part of delivering a UK Forestry Standard compliant plan and, as year two of the Trees for Climate funding programme looks set to be a busy one with lots of interest from landowners, it is crucial that we are prepared so that all our planting schemes deliver the maximum benefits possible to local communities, landowners, and the environment.

The UK Forestry Standard is the reference standard for sustainable forest management in the UK and Forests and Landscape is one of seven sustainable forest management elements within it. Combining both presentations and a site visit, the training focussed on ensuring we are up to date on the latest forestry processes and provided a range of useful tools and techniques to assess, analyse and design for new woodlands.  The information collected helps to demonstrate due diligence in the woodland design process and informing the Environmental Impact Assessment (Forestry) afforestation decision making process.

We were also keen to share this learning with partners and were pleased that colleagues from the Forestry Commission and the National Trust were able to attend on the day too.

We came away from the day with lots of useful information that we will be taking forward into year two of our Trees for Climate planting schemes, ensuring our woodland creation projects are all well-designed and complement the landscape.