Forest clearance for peatland restoration

Phased felling and low impact harvesting can effectively control negative impacts of forest clearance for peatland restoration

Valuing tree and forest ecosystem services

Our research explores the value of different tree and forest ecosystem services and uses innovative methods to identify and capture those values

Valuing and governing tree and forest ecosystem services

This research provides new insights into how to recognise and understand the value of ecosystem services provided by trees and forests.

Forestry Facts & Figures 2019

A summary of statistics about woodland and forestry in the UK.

Direct seeding of birch, rowan and alder can be a viable technique for the restoration of upland native woodland in the UK

Direct seeding of birch, rowan and alder can be a viable technique for the restoration of upland native woodland in the UK

Exploring changes in ecosystem services under varying scenarios

Exploration of the resilience of woodlands to future change by assessing how ecosystem service values and natural capital stocks of woodlands may be affected by change through the application of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UK NEA) scenarios and different management approaches, e.g. forest diversification through the application of forest management alternatives

Understanding the role of urban tree management on ecosystem services

Urban forests provide ecosystem services that contribute to human health, liveability and sustainability. The management of trees influences the delivery of these ecosystem services and thus helps determine the total benefit provided by an urban forest. This Research Note summarises two Research Reports that assessed the delivery of regulating ecosystem services by 30 tree species […]

Resilience – Future Proofing Plant Health

What is tree resilience, and how can we support better management for tree health in the face of climate change and pests and diseases?

Detecting young trees from space

FR have established how to detect young trees from space using synthetic aperture RADAR and machine learning techniques. This will support the monitoring of the planting of tens of thousands of restock sites and new woodland across Britain. In searching for a solution researchers hypothesised that even if the trees are too small to see, maybe we could ‘feel’ them using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). A different technique to utilising optical data, SAR provides ‘fuzzy’ data on the presence of objects, their size, orientation and texture. The research found that this was possible and data on whether sites had tree cover or not has been derived for extensive areas of Britain and NFI are working to operationalise the process.

How does a biodiversity value impact upon optimal rotation length? An investigation using species richness and forest stand age

A study integrating biodiversity data for British forests with economic modelling of optimal rotation length. Investigation revealed some evidence of relationships between overall species richness and stand age.

Assessing the resilience of UK forests to extreme climatic events

This project aims to quantify the historic impact and legacy of extreme climatic events on UK forests using tree-ring chronologies, climate and soil data. It focuses on species of major importance to UK forestry in order to provide the information basis for building adaptive capacity into future forest planning and decision-making.

Delivering Resilient Forests

Resilient forests are important if our trees are to cope better with changing environmental conditions and threats from pests and diseases. This page provides information on the publications produced as part of Forest Research's 'Delivering Resilient Forests' programme of research.