Forestry Commission surveyors are starting work on what they say will be the most comprehensive record of information about Britain’s woods and forests ever compiled.

The information they gather will be vital for planning to ensure that Britain’s forests can withstand changes in the climate, contribute to climate change mitigation, and help society cope with some of the effects of climate change, such as flooding and heat-waves. It will also underpin a wide range of decisions about topics such as forest planning, nature conservation, research, planting, forest and timber industries’ development, and public recreation.

The surveyors will visit 15,000 woodland sites the length and breadth of England, Scotland and Wales over the next five years to gather information about numbers and species of trees, their age, height and condition, and the other living things in the woods.

It will all be fed into the next National Forest Inventory, along with other material gathered by, for example, aerial photography and satellite imagery, to create an accurate, up-to-date picture of the amount and condition of Britain’s woodland.

It will also help to reveal valuable information about any changes that have occurred since the last inventory was compiled in the 1990s, such as whether there has been an increase, decline or no change in the area and condition of Britain’s woodland.

The National Forest Inventory is a massive project that the Commission has undertaken about every 10 to 15 years since the 1920s. The current one, however, will be run continuously, and has greater significance than usual because of climate change, as Peter Weston, the Commission’s head of inventory and forecasting, explains: “There is growing recognition of the role that trees and forests can play in helping to prevent runaway climate change, and in helping society adapt to the effects of climate change.

“And like any organisation with policy, planning, advisory or management responsibility for a major national resource, we need accurate, up-to-date information about it that is scientifically and statistically sound.

“This is going to be especially important in light of the role that woods and forests will play in the Government’s recently announced UK Low-Carbon Transition Plan. For example, it will be vital for forestry’s contribution to the plan to have accurate data on the carbon stored in Britain’s forests, and the survey will play an important part in helping us to get it.”

Other government organisations and the private sector also use National Forest Inventory data in their planning. Keith Kirby FICFor, forestry and woodland officer with Natural England, comments: “The NFI is important to government organisations such as Natural England. For example, it provides the overall framework of information on England’s trees and woods which enables us to put into context what is happening in ancient woods and other, protected sites.”

For the private-sector forest and timber industries, Steve Lavery MICFor, managing director of UPM-Tilhill, adds: “The accurate and up-to-date information that the NFI will provide about the timber resource growing across Britain will be vital to timber growers and processors alike. It will enable us to plan investment with confidence so that we can continue with sustainable growth, and with the associated job and wealth creation that the sector has generated for the British economy in recent decades.”

Mr Weston concludes: “To get the best data possible we need a little help from woodland owners, so we’re writing to those whose woodlands we want to visit to explain what we’re doing and to seek their help, where necessary, with access and information. The visits will be unobtrusive, and most will last only about half a day. No damage will be done to trees or other property, all information gathered will be treated in strict confidence, and none of the summary reports will reveal information about individual woodlands.”

The first round of surveying is being conducted in all parts of Britain during August, September and October 2009, and the survey will continue until 2014.

Further information is available from: www.forestry.gov.uk/inventory,

by emailing  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or by calling the Commission’s Inventory & Forecasting Unit on 0131 445 2176.