Over the next two years, social scientists at Forest Research are working with Kew’s Learning and Participation staff and programme participants to co-design and carry out an evaluation of the Temperate House Activity Plan.

The Forestry Commission and Peatland Action are supporting Forest Research to investigate the effects of peatland restoration by deforestation on nutrient and carbon transport to surface waters.

Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS) has provided funding to bring together a number of Scottish research organisations to establish a new virtual Centre of Expertise for Plant Health.

‘Putting woodland bats on the map’ – a collaboration between Forest Research and Bat Conservation Trust

Use of interactive mapping to aid stakeholder engagement in the Strathard Initiative

A novel research project at Alice Holt forest has unearthed the UK’s rarest earthworm. Current earthworm distribution records indicate that some UK species are rare or very rare. However, fieldwork conducted in November 2017 yielded three new records of the nationally very rare species Dendrobaena pygmaea, boosting the national records of this earthworm from six records to nine.

The plight of our most iconic native tree, the oak, is the subject of a new film released today.

Pioneering tree health partnership to continue thanks to funding boost

Research into the lifecycle of oak boring beetle Agrilus biguttatus

There is growing interest in working with natural processes (WWNP) to reduce flood risk. WWNP aims to protect, restore and emulate the natural functions of catchments, floodplains, rivers and the coast. It includes, for example, restoring peat moorlands, re-meandering rivers, targeting woodland planting and improving floodplain connectivity to help to reduce the flood risk to communities downstream.

In August, Dr Joan Webber spoke at a symposium held to celebrate the life and career of Johanna Westerdijk. Johanna led the team of female mycologists who discovered the cause of the first epidemic of Dutch Elm Disease a fungus called Ophiostoma ulmi and also revealed much of the biology of this damaging pathogen and pioneered the first breeding programme to produce disease resistant elms. Johanna was a truly remarkable woman not only for these achievements but also for her efforts to inspire and empower female mycologists in the early part of the 20th Century.

The project was named the best community/volunteer initiative at the Horticulture Week awards at Woburn Abbey on 28th of June 2017.