We use some essential cookies to make this website work.
We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use forestresearch.gov.uk, remember your settings and improve our services.
We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.
Preparing to search
The Alice Holt Forest climate change adaptation trail opened in 2019.
The trail is designed to inform decisions about how we can adjust our woodland management practices to better prepare our woodlands for the changing climate. The trail shows a range of climate change adaptation measures and options.
The trail passes through three new demonstration areas which show climate change adaptation measures in a woodland typical of the south east of England. As well as the new demonstration areas, the trail includes 20th century research trials and the Alice Holt Arboretum, which are of fresh interest to those considering how to build resilience to environmental change.
The trail is located on the Surrey/Hampshire border. The forest contains a mix of broadleaf tree species and coniferous woodland which provides many important benefits. The future climate for the area is expected to include hotter, drier summers along with more frequent extreme weather events, such as droughts, which could lead to significant reductions in tree growth, biodiversity and ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration.
How can I visit the demonstration areas and the adaptation trail?
The trail starts in Alice Holt Arboretum car park which is located near to Forest Research’s Alice Holt Lodge and two miles from Alice Holt Forest Park. A self-guided trail guide and associated worksheet is available. Alternatively, if you would like a hard copy of the guide or to request it in audio format, contact us at adaptah@forestry.gov.uk
The trail is set within a working forest, please follow all safety signs and wear appropriate footwear. Please watch out for other visitors on foot, bike and horse and also any vehicles on the forest roads.
We hope this inspires you to find out more about the demonstration work, to come along to take a look at what is happening and let us know what you think. A range of case studies of adaptive practice from forests and woodlands across the UK (including Alice Holt Forest), plus a UK Forestry Standard Practice Guide on Adapting forest and woodland management to the changing climate are available to provide you with more information.
The planning, operations and implementation of the measures have already provided insights into the practicalities of adapting to future changes. The intention is that as they grow, they will continue to develop our learning about the process and impact of implementing adaptation actions in forestry, and encourage others to think about what measures might work best in their woodlands and to share their ideas and experiences.
Cookies are files saved on your phone, tablet or computer when you visit a website.
We use cookies to store information about how you use the dwi.gov.uk website, such as the pages you visit.
Find out more about cookies on forestresearch.gov.uk
We use 3 types of cookie. You can choose which cookies you're happy for us to use.
These essential cookies do things like remember your progress through a form. They always need to be on.
We use Google Analytics to measure how you use the website so we can improve it based on user needs. Google Analytics sets cookies that store anonymised information about: how you got to the site the pages you visit on forestresearch.gov.uk and how long you spend on each page what you click on while you're visiting the site
Some forestresearch.gov.uk pages may contain content from other sites, like YouTube or Flickr, which may set their own cookies. These sites are sometimes called ‘third party’ services. This tells us how many people are seeing the content and whether it’s useful.