Skip to main content
News Banner

25 Search Results

  • Publications

    Establishing and managing gene conservation units

    Lead Author: Jason Hubert
    Conserving the genetic diversity within our tree species and the processes that determine it are important for sustainable forest management and increasing the resilience of Britain’s forests and woodlands. The genetic diversity within a tree species at any one time is the result of many dynamic processes, and it provides the source for future adapted […]
  • Publications

    Planning for brownfield land regeneration to woodland and wider green infrastructure

    Lead Author: Gail Atkinson
    The regeneration of brownfield land to green space can deliver multiple benefits to society and the environment through improvements in the quality of a site and its surrounding landscape. Successful delivery of regeneration projects is dependent on the planning of project delivery and on good project management. This Practice Note describes the process of brownfield […]
  • Publications

    Managing woodland access and forest operations in Scotland

    Lead Author: James Ogilvie
    Forests and woodlands bring wide-ranging and diverse benefits to people in Scotland. They are ideal places for people of all ages to participate in leisure, recreation and sports. However, forests are also workplaces. Forestry is an important part of the rural economy, and the production of timber provides revenue for landowners and jobs for the […]
  • Publications

    Expanding woodlands in Special Protection Areas for golden eagles

    Lead Author: Paul Haworth
    Golden eagles are primarily birds of open mountain country but they can use open woodland habitats and may benefit from prey species which use woodlands. In 2010 a suite of six new Special Protection Areas (SPAs) covering 360,000 ha were designated by the Scottish Government for the conservation of golden eagles, adding to the existing […]
  • Publications

    Monitoring the oak processionary moth with Pheromone traps

    Lead Author: Nigel A Straw
    The oak processionary moth is a serious forestry pest that is capable of causing complete defoliation of oak trees. Its caterpillars are also a hazard to health. Breeding populations of the moth were discovered for the first time in the UK in London in 2006 and these initial infestations have since spread and the moth […]
  • Publications

    Managing public safety on harvesting sites

    Lead Author: Forestry Commission
    Everyone involved in forestry work has health and safety duties and responsibilities. This Practice Note provides guidance to help landowners, forest managers and forestry practitioners manage public safety on harvesting sites. Forest operations are high-risk activities, and the management issues involved in harvesting and hauling timber while maintaining public access to forests and woodlands can […]
  • Publications

    Choosing Sitka spruce planting stock

    Lead Author: Steve Lee
    Over 90% of the Sitka spruce planted in Britain today is from ‘improved’ planting stock, which is predicted to produce around 25% more timber at final rotation, compared with material imported from the Pacific North West. Forest managers have a choice of improved stock: seedlings raised from seed collected in orchards established around 25 years […]
  • Publications

    Minimising the impact of the great spruce bark beetle

    Lead Author: Forestry Commission
    The great spruce bark beetle is found in forests throughout continental Europe. It damages spruce trees by tunnelling into the bark of the living trees to lay its eggs under the bark. The developing larvae feed on the inner woody layers, which weakens, and in some cases may kill, the tree. The beetle was first […]
  • Publications

    Managing forests as red squirrel strongholds

    Stronghold forests are large areas of coniferous and mixed forest identified as having the potential to sustain resilient and healthy populations of red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) over the long-term.
  • Publications

    Managing forests for white-tailed eagles

    Lead Author: Forestry Commission (Scotland)
    White-tailed eagles (sea eagles) were re-introduced to Scotland from the 1970s and there are now over 50 breeding pairs. They frequently nest and roost in woodlands and tend to use habitual nest sites. The species has a high degree of legal protection, and woodland managers need to plan operations carefully to avoid disturbing the birds […]
  • Publications

    Respacing naturally regenerating Sitka spruce and other conifers

    Lead Author: W L Mason
    Dense natural regeneration of Sitka spruce and other conifers is an increasingly common feature of both recently clearfelled sites and stands managed under continuous cover forestry in upland forests of the British Isles. This regeneration can be managed by combining natural self-thinning in the early stages of stand establishment with management intervention to cut access […]
  • Publications

    Managing acute oak decline

    Oak trees in Britain have long suffered from dieback and decline disorders, but a disease called acute oak decline has been causing particular concern since the first few years of the 21st century. A typical symptom of the disease is dark, sticky fluid bleeding from small cracks in the bark on the trunk of the […]