The importance of a good management plan in supporting a healthy and thriving woodland is critical, not least because an “approved” management plan comes with the means to legally conduct operations. No matter your aims for your woodland these plans are a vital living document. Time and again we meet owners, managers, and more who find multiple barriers to the completion of plans. From comments like “too much admin” and feelings of “unnecessary complications“. People mostly just want to do what they do best – care for their trees rather than filling in forms. Fair enough we say.
But…
Producing a UKFS (UK Forestry Standard) management plan is crucial for the foundation of good woodland stewardship. Kindly funded by the Forestry Commission via the ‘Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Fund’ we are working with our long-term collaborators and pioneering NGOs Cumbria Woodlands and Sylva Foundation to breakdown what is required. We will mix the depth of their forest management expertise with our media and forest innovation focus. Through a mix of filming, animation, and case studies we are creating a programme that will support people in producing legally compliant, comprehensive, and most significantly, silviculturally well informed management plans.
Yes, we really are going to make management plan writing interesting, fun, enjoyable, and less of a chore!
The work will be incorporated into Sylva’s MyForest and Cumbria Woodlands Canopy Learning. Think of us as the antidote to management plan headaches.
We’ll have more to share over the coming months as we head out into the field (woods) and get filming. Drones at the ready and cameras rolling we love the opportunity to visit new treescapes and meet interesting people doing incredible work. Watch this space.
