Woodland conservation – Shooters applauded
The conservation work carried out in woodland by shooters has been highlighted in the Country Land & Business Associations (CLA) new report, Seeing the Wood for the Trees.
The report, which was published on 3 June and is backed by the Prince of Wales, spells out the CLAs vision for woodland and calls on the Government to increase funding for culls of grey squirrels and deer in order to protect Britains woodlands and help boost the timber industry.
The CLAs president Henry Aubrey-Fletcher explained that if woodland management does not become profitable, it will die: The potential is enormous and largely unrealised. In England we currently harvest less than 40 per cent of the volume of timber that grows in the woods each year, squandering this valuable and sustainable resource. In England and Wales, between 2003 and 2008, new tree planting almost halved, falling from 5,100 hectares a year to 2,800 hectares a year. Forestry and woodland is over-regulated by Government and out-of-control deer and grey squirrel populations have wreaked havoc.
To read the report, visit www.cla.org.uk.
The rest of this article appears in 11th June issue of Shooting Times.
