Louise Simpson, Executive Director of the Institute, was recently invited onto Radio 4’s Farming Today programme to discuss commercial forestry.
Speaking with presenter Charlotte Smith, Louise outlined that the current negative public perception of commercial forestry, due to the tree felling involved, could be hampering efforts to grow more productive timber in the UK.
“The public perception of commercial forestry, and even the Government’s perception of commercial forestry, is that it’s a bit of a ‘bad word’ – that we’re doing all this work to plant trees and commercial forestry is seen as about cutting them down. It seems that it’s a culturally difficult thing for people to understand.”
When questioned on the greater visual appeal of multi-species woodland, Louise replied:
“Multi-purpose woodlands that deliver on health, carbon and biodiversity can also help to deliver on wood products – for example, well managed thinning operations will leave by-products that can be repurposed into other products. We need our woodlands to deliver multipurpose benefits, and having a diversity of species allows us to develop more resilient woodlands.”
You can listen to the whole interview on the BBC Sounds website.
