Forestry and Water Quality

Research to understand woodland-water interactions to reduce diffuse pollution and improve water quality

Climate change adaptation strategies in a fragmented landscape

A multi-species modelling approach to examine the impact of alternative climate change adaptation strategies on range shifting ability in a fragmented landscape This paper describes research to test the effects of varying ‘climate change adaptation strategies’ on the ability of different animals to move through the landscape in response to changing climatic conditions. The adaptation strategies […]

Adapting Scotland’s forests to climate change using an action expiration chart

New decision-making tool helps ecosystem services to adapt to the potential impact of climate change on Scottish forests In a paper published in Environmental Research Letters Michal Petr and colleagues investigate the impacts of future climate change on forest ecosystem services in Scotland and describe a new approach to supporting adaptation decisions in forestry. To sustain forests […]

Thinning control (2015)

This Field Guide provides guidance on the control of volume to be removed when marking a thinning and a guide to thinning yields. There are four sections: the first describes the yield class system and how yield class is assessed in a stand. The second covers thinning practice, including the type, intensity and cycle of […]

Woodland and Natural Flood Management

Review of research, demonstration and monitoring projects, involving the implementation of woodland measures in the context of natural flood management, undertaken in the UK since 2000.

Integrated optimal rotation length modelling

Optimal rotation length model, which accounts for timber production and climate change mitigation (in terms of carbon benefits) and adaptation (in terms of windthrow risks), is developed.

Opportunity mapping for targeting grant aid for water benefits

Brief introduction to the targeting of Countryside Stewardship woodland capital grants in England

Effects of urban density on carbon dioxide exchanges

Carbon dioxide is an important greenhouse gas contributing to global climate change. This paper quantifies the size of carbon dioxide flows between the land and the atmosphere in 1) a woodland at Alice Holt in Surrey, 2) a suburban site in Swindon and 3) an urban site in central London. The paper shows […]

Action for the Environment on Scotland’s National Forest Estate

Action for the Environment on Scotland's National Forest Estate describes just some of the recent work we have been doing to ensure that our natural and cultural heritage is protected, conserved and enhanced.

Behavioural policy ‘nudges’ to encourage woodland creation for climate change mitigation

Evidence indicates that woodland creation is generally a cost-effective method of climate change mitigation, when compared with a range of alternatives. However, engaging landowners and land managers in woodland creation schemes can sometimes prove difficult, and this affects prospects for meeting national woodland planting targets and associated climate change mitigation objectives. Although reluctance to plant […]

Behavioural policy ‘nudges’ to encourage woodland creation for climate change mitigation

Evidence indicates that woodland creation is generally a cost-effective method of climate change mitigation, when compared with a range of alternatives. However, engaging landowners and land managers in woodland creation schemes can sometimes prove difficult, and this affects prospects for meeting national woodland planting targets and associated climate change mitigation objectives. Although reluctance to plant […]

Climate change impacts on insect pests associated with Sitka spruce

This project is investigating the potential impact that a changing climate may have on the insect pests associated with the UK’s most important and widely planted conifer tree species Sitka spruce.