A Passion For Home-Grown

Woodland Heritage believes in restoring Britain’s native woodlands, in making them diverse, and in making them profitable. For years, it has raised money to improve the quality and health of broad-leaved trees, and supported the businesses – from tree planters to furniture makers – that depend on them.

It wants to attract more investment into our woods, making them better cared-for and ensuring their futures. If they get it right, there will be more productive woods and better woodland management, which will in turn bring more money into woodland and – in a virtuous circle – secure better management again. This will improve the health of our trees and hugely benefit the indigenous flora and fauna. Sadly, instead of this virtuous circle, we have a vicious one. Broadleaf trees do not grow at a pace designed to win votes, so until now our political parties have ignored them, allowing our woods to fall into decay. The industry has descended into “every man for himself”, where many woodland owners do their own thing or nothing, depending on inclination, often with no thought for the future. The hardwood trees we all love and the timber industry that relies on them are both ailing. Starved of investment and commitment our woods are struggling to supply the few hardwood sawmills we still have. Over the years many tree nurseries, sawmills and manufacturers have given up on the struggle against foreign competition. Imports have risen unchecked, bringing in not just cheap furniture and timber, but tree diseases too – risking further devastation for our neglected woodlands. Many of these foreign wood products come from forests run with nothing like the care and attention demanded in the UK. We are effectively conniving with bandits wrecking crucial habitats, while inter-continental haulage comes with an ever more alarming cost in carbon miles. Yet, with every closed British sawmill or workshop, we become ever more dependent on this questionable trade. Woodland Heritage believe it is crucial that we act to break this cycle before it is too late, and mercifully it seems consumers think so too. At Whitney Sawmills, a hardwood mill in Herefordshire, where every effort is made to keep things local, it is becoming clear that there is a new movement emerging. As with the food business, customers are beginning to take a real interest in sourcing their timber locally, and in the provenance of the wood they buy. Increasingly the public wants sustainability, local materials and the chance to protect their countryside.

Builders and architects should join this trend, and start looking for materials from closer to home. They have the opportunity to capture the spirit of the times, and make beautiful standout products with home-grown timber. By so doing they would help to increase demand and stimulate the whole supply chain. Our hardwoods have been pushed to the edge of irrelevance by unnecessary imports, and it is time to bring them back. The Secretary of State for the Environment has endorsed a new “Grown in Britain” initiative determined to reinvigorate the hardwood growing and processing sector. Large retail outlets are already involved and enthusiastic and “Grown in Britain” is planning a certification scheme to give customers confidence in a material’s hom grown credentials. Meanwhile, Woodland Heritage is well ahead of the game. They long ago recognised that Britain’s timber industries were struggling to survive and that there were few opportunities for practical young people to learn the basic skills. As a consequence they chose to work with Whitney Sawmills to set up a course called “From Woodland to Workshop”. Designed to enable people throughout the industry to broaden their knowledge, this biannual course has already helped many designers and builders to get hands-on experience of the materials they may soon wish to specify. And this is just one of Woodland Heritage’s many initiatives. Check out their website or better still join them and gain personally from their extensive knowledge and understanding of this essential industry.

www.woodlandheritage.org.uk