Years of controversy over wood planting ends (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Years of controversy over wood planting ends

8:07am Friday 8th July 2005 in Farm & country By Ruth Lythe

THE Forestry Commission and the Friends of the Lake District have joined forces to start work on woodland that was an area of controversy 70 years ago.

In the 1930s, Hardknott Forest, near Millom, was the scene of one of the first major battles to protect a natural landscape.

Conservation group Friends of the Lake District fought to stop the creation of new conifer forests, which would cover much of the Eskdale and the Duddon Valley, by the Forestry Commission Although the campaign was partly successful, the commission went ahead with the planting of the forest at Hardknott.

Today, the two groups are working together to replace the non-native conifer trees at Hardknott Forest with a native birch and oak woodland.

The work went ahead only after long discussions over the future of Hardknott Forest, involving local people and organisations such as FLD, the Lake District National Park Authority and the National Trust.

All the parties agreed that the forest would benefit the public to a greater extent if it were planted with mainly broadleaved native trees, to fit in with the rest of the valley where the woodland is mainly oak.

FLD policy officer Jack Ellerby said: "Our founding fathers would be so pleased to see this positive landscape change. We campaigned vigorously against the planting of conifers on the slopes of Harter Fell. We are now working with the Forestry Commission to help restore the character of the fell side with open areas and sympathetic native regeneration."

Former Cabinet Minister, Lord Clarke of Windermere, who is the chairman of the Forestry Commission and a member of the FLD, said: "The Forestry Commission was formed in 1919 to create a national reserve of timber in case of a future war. I am pleased to say that the Forestry Commission now has a very strong focus on both the social and the environmental benefits that forests can deliver."

Forestry Commission district manager in the North West, Graeme Prest, said: "The Forestry Commission is grateful to all the groups that have taken an interest in this project and for the funding provided by the FLD."

In addition to a more attractive landscape with a mosaic of native woodland, bogs and rocky crags, the changes the FC is making now will increase bio diversity. It is hoped that a number of species will return to the area, including dormice, wood ants, redstarts and pied flycatchers.

Education will also form an important part of the project. Over the next few years local school children will help plant some of the areas where trees have been removed with oak, birch and juniper. The conversion is expected to take 60 to 70 years to complete.