Findings and Recommendations

1. There were a total of 700,097 sporting visits over the three-year pilot, with a 246% increase in the number of visits in the third year versus the first (baseline) year of the programme. The AF sites showed an accelerating upward trend in the number of visits through time.
2. Less active individuals (sporting activity once a month or less) made up 15% of the matched survey data. There was a highly significant increase in sporting activity between completing the participant survey and the follow-on survey (p<0.001) in these individuals, with 49% of people moving to being active once a week or more than once a week
3. The beauty, scenery, wildlife, sensory and seasonal experiences, sense of freedom, getting away from everyday life, and atmosphere of the forest sites were key drivers for participants and greatly enhanced the experience of being active in nature.
4. The four key benefits identified by over 80% were:
   • Physical wellbeing
   • Fun and enjoyment
   • Mental wellbeing
   • A feeling of escape and freedom
     Mental wellbeing came out strongly as a theme in the qualitative research.
5. The top 5 most popular activities were cycling, running, orienteering, bat and racket sports and fitness. All of these activities showed large positive increases in the number of visits across the pilot. Visits in the final year were at least 150% greater than those in the first year, aside from cycling. The popularity of Gruffalo orienteering demonstrates the importance of working with national sports governing bodies to develop fun forest-based activity.
6. Active Forests Coordinators played a key role in developing physical activity opportunities on their sites, increasing the numbers of people getting involved and gathering monitoring data. This is clearly shown by the use of Cannock Chase as a comparison site. Volunteers also played an important part in the programme.