APPENDIX 2

SUMMARY OF WORKSHOPS

Carmarthen 16th November 1999
Mold 18th November 1999
Bangor 19th November 1999
Builth Wells 24th November 1999
Cardiff 3rd December 1999
(Total 350 attendees)

WOODLANDS FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE WIDER ECONOMY

Key Issues

• Develop a woodland strategy that is integrated with other policy areas, is flexible, and will be delivered in partnership with others (Carmarthen, Cardiff). Take an holistic view (Cardiff). Reduce the regulatory burden on forestry and draw in a wider range of funding sources (Mold, Bangor). Develop a strategy that adds value to Wales and includes local and regional strategies - for example for the South Wales coalfields (Cardiff, Bangor) to ensure that local differences and economic circumstances are adequately reflected (Carmarthen).
• Promote multi-purpose forestry and quality as well as quantity, recognising the environmental, social and economic benefits of woodland and their many non-market benefits. Find methods for valuing these benefits (green accounting) (Cardiff). Ensure that grants are more closely attuned to the public benefit of woodlands (Mold) and under-pin their multi-purpose objectives (Carmarthen).
• Concentrate effort on the management of existing woodlands. Within existing woodlands improve linkages between different sectors in the wood chain (Bangor) and place much greater emphasis on good silvicultural practices, including the use of continuous cover systems, potentially linked to certification as a means of safeguarding markets (Builth Wells, Cardiff).
• Target new woodland planting according to a broader land use strategy backed by appropriate targeted incentives that recognise the diverse benefits of woodlands (Bangor, Builth Wells). Promote tree planting that complements agriculture (Mold, Builth Wells). Concentrate expansion 'down the hill' (Cardiff) and ensure that all new woodlands offer diversity - they should be multi-purpose although they could have a commercial core (Mold).
• Add value locally as a means of increasing local employment, reducing transport needs, retaining benefits within the local community, and meeting sustainability objectives. Promote timber as a sustainable renewable material and make better use of forestry residues. Develop alternative products and markets focusing on high value products including composite materials. Improve linkages throughout the woodland chain and promote biofuels and other non-timber products. Provide business support and business planning on all aspects of the production/supply chain (Cardiff), focusing attention on SMEs (Bangor). Undertake generic marketing to encourage a wood-using culture. Improve access to new technologies. Provide training and capital investment. Encourage the use of specifications which use timber in construction. Reduce planning restrictions on local processing (Mold, Bangor, Builth Wells).

WOODLANDS FOR PEOPLE

Key Issues

• Access to woodlands should be encouraged but may require additional resources to cover management and safety/liability issues. Private woodland owners should not be expected to provide access for nothing and should be able to close woodlands to undertake management operations (Bangor). There needs to be greater integration between woodland and non-woodland areas for recreation and recognition that diversity of age and species provides a more interesting setting for recreation (Cardiff, Carmarthen). The means of getting to woodlands requires greater thought (Carmarthen). The health benefits from increased access should not be under-estimated (Cardiff). There needs to be more information on woodlands with access opportunities (Cardiff, Builth Wells).
• Education is required on all aspects of woodlands - to encourage mutual respect between land owners and the general public, to make wood and woodlands more relevant to the general public (Mold) and to raise appreciation of the many benefits that they provide (Bangor) - there is a general loss of affinity with woodlands (Carmarthen). In addition, woodlands provide an education resource for a wide range of topics that can be linked to the school curriculum. (Cardiff).
• Increase community involvement in the management of both public and private woodlands. Gain the views of the 'silent majority' and use models for community involvement that have been widely used in underdeveloped countries (Bangor); strengthen the links between the public and the producer/landowner - the strategy should provide a framework for consultation at all levels (Carmarthen). Ensure early consultation on all new woodland planting and clear felling (Cardiff). Develop more local community woods and encourage local ownership (Bangor). Coed Cymru should be more involved with local communities. Encourage the appointment of local woodland managers to give woodlands a public face (Carmarthen) - people need to feel they belong, they do not have to own the wood.
• Redevelop cultural links with woodland (Bangor). Actively encourage traditional uses for woodlands by creating modern markets and encouraging local small-scale wood-using enterprises (Mold, Bangor). Ensure adequate protection of heritage sites found within woodland (Bangor).
• Recognise the health benefits of woodlands, not just in terms of providing a resource for informal recreation and exercise but as a soothing backdrop which reduces stress and increases a sense of well-being (Cardiff).
• Add value locally as a means of creating local employment and supporting integrated rural development. The current pattern is for the benefits of woodland to go out of the local community and jobs to be exported (Bangor, Carmarthen) in turn this has led to a drain of talent from local communities (Carmarthen). Funding should encourage integration of farming with forestry and the regeneration of local skills (Builth Wells).

WOODLAND FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Key Issues

• Develop a strategy that links to other land use policies and reflects closer integration between forestry and other land uses, particularly agriculture. Promote agro-forestry (Bangor); ensure better integration between woodland management and the wider land-use economy and between farming and forestry grants (all workshops). Ensure that the strategy reflects Biodiversity Action Plan targets and other objectives established through LANDMAP and Structure Plans (Bangor, Cardiff, Mold).
• Create links between the environmental gains and the social and economic gains of woodlands (Bangor, Mold). Demonstrate the relationship between non-market benefits and revenue/jobs (Carmarthen). Find ways that value the full range of benefits provided by woodlands, such as Environmental Capital (Bangor, Mold).
• Manage conifer plantations for multi-purpose benefit. Plan long-term; ensure representation of all stages of woodland development within any one forest and encourage phased conversion to mixed woodland, potentially shifting balance to broadleaves (Mold) and reflect local distinctiveness (Bangor); make small woodlands bigger to increase scope for structural change; use alternative silvicultural systems including Continuous Cover Forestry and avoid clear felling with its adverse effects on soil, water, established ecosystems and landscape (Cardiff, Bangor, Builth Wells, Mold). Revert some existing plantations to previous semi-natural habitats. The public forest estate should provide a show case for forestry working in harmony with the environment - cannot expect the private sector to contribute if the public sector is not leading the way (Builth Wells). As part of this public bodies should commit to certification and assist private woodland owners to do the same (Carmarthen).
• Place emphasis on improving the quality of existing woodlands through appropriate management (all workshops). A priority should be to protect existing native woodlands particularly those that cannot be recreated (ASNW), although it is recognised that part of these protective measures may be achieved through expansion (see below) (Carmarthen). This should include increased use and knowledge of natural regeneration techniques and increased use of local provenance planting material.
• New woodland planting should be governed by wider decisions about the sort of natural/semi-natural environment wanted in Wales and targeted to meet specific needs. This includes targeting to relink the fragmented semi-natural woodland resource and to fulfil the expansion targets in the native woodland HAPS (this could be done in part by conversion of current conifer plantations) (Bangor, Mold); targeting the use of trees and woodlands to contribute to and compose local landscapes and local distinctiveness (Builth Wells); and targeting to ameliorate water, air and noise pollution and improve derelict land, and to provide screening and ameliorate local micro-climates in urban and rural areas (Cardiff). New woodland types that could be considered are floodplain woodlands, treeline woodlands, and wilderness woodlands with a local priority for the expansion of woodlands in the lowlands and on valley sides. There may be some scope for the expansion of hardwoods on bracken and molinia areas in the Uplands (Cardiff),
• The strategy should remain flexible to reflect the effects of climate change. The aim should be to increase overall diversity - develop genetically robust forests (Cardiff) and to review the impact of the strategy in the light of environmental change (Carmarthen )

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