We have been managing our forests here in the UK since well before the Bronze Age. Since then, we’ve gone through a roller coaster of cutting forests down and replanting them. That’s because timber is the plastic of the past – we used it for everything from building homes to making toys. This led to a situation where by the start of the twentieth century, woodland covered just 5% of Britain.

In response to this, The Forestry Commission was founded in 1919 and was tasked with reafforestation to ensure that future timber demands were met. As such, a strategic forestry reserve was made and fast areas of monoculture conifer were planted.

During the last decade, there has been a shift towards broadleaf tree planting. Having conducted a study across the UK, Forestry Research estimates that the area of woodland in the UK is now 3.25 million hectares – this represents 13% of the total land area in the UK. While this is a welcomed and celebrated improvement from the 5% land coverage at the beginning of the twentieth century, there is still work to be done. The government aims to grow tree coverage to 16.5% by 2050. In the coming decades, we have to give our young forests a chance to establish themselves and protect our existing woodlands to reach this goal.

Image Attribution: Walter Baxter