Owners and agents needed for new project about woodland structure and biodiversity potential

Take part in a new project to gain a 3D model of your woodland and discover its biodiversity potential.

Forest Research are looking for woodland owners and agents in England to join an exciting new project exploring woodland structure and biodiversity potential.  

Forest Research and Sylva Foundation are collaborating to investigate how management impacts woodland structure with the aim of developing new metrics for owners or agents to help monitor their woodland for biodiversity.  

These metrics will be based on woodland mapping and inventory information, making the best use of existing data collected by foresters. 

Alongside the ecological science, researchers will be exploring how woodland owners and agents examine and value the structure of their woodland, and how this is impacted by woodland management. 

New perspectives on woodland structure

Woodland structure — a vital component of woodland ecological condition — has historically been difficult to monitor. But this new project, called Living Layers will evaluate structure from a different perspective by using cutting edge data from Environment Agency aerial surveys to create 3D models of woodlands. 

To join this project, you will need to create a free account with myForest and join Forest Lab which is provided as one of the tools on the platform.  

By taking part in the Living Layers project, you will: 

• receive metrics of structure and biodiversity potential for the sub-compartments you share with us 

• receive a 3D model of your sub-compartments  

• gain a better understanding of woodland structure, and how it impacts biodiversity 

MyForest provides innovative tools to support sustainable woodland management while Forest Lab allows easy sharing of data between participants and researchers.  

More information on myForest can be found here.