Conifers for Colleges Ian Gambles Director Forestry Commission England Royal Forestry Society 5 th November 2014

Conifers for Colleges 2 What I am going to cover The conifer challenge… Pests and diseases Climate change Anti-conifer sentiment Loss of silvicultural skills … and what we can all do about it

Conifers for Colleges 3 All Woodland In England 1/3 rd conifer 2/3 rd broadleaf

Conifers for Colleges 4 Broadleaf woodland in England 5 species make up 77% of the total Acute Oak Decline Oak processionary moth ChalaraGrey Squirrel Deer Drought Chestnut Blight Phytophthora alni

Conifers for Colleges 5 Conifer woodland in England 6 species makes up 89% of the total Lappet moth Dothistroma DNB Phytophthora ramorum Spruce aphid Drought

Conifers for Colleges 6 18/04/ Multiplying pests and diseases

Conifers for Colleges 7 Climate change and silviculture of 15 Current origins Future origins? Is what we are planting now adapted to known climate change?

Conifers for Colleges 8 Anti-conifer sentiment Right to protect and restore ancient woodland Understandable that the mistakes of a previous generation are not forgotten BUT Contemporary certified afforestation is far beyond outdated perceptions – and creates places of beauty, biodiversity, recreational and direct production value English timber production and processing contributes £2.1 billion GVA With rising pressure on land use and land values, uneconomic woodland is at long-term risk

Conifers for Colleges 9 An alarming table New conifer planting (thousands of hectares): EnglandUK 2010?? 2011?? 2012?? 2013?? 2014??

Conifers for Colleges 10 An alarming table New conifer planting (thousands of hectares): EnglandUK

Conifers for Colleges 11 The skills challenge “Rediscovery” of silviculture relies entirely on skilled foresters to carry it through – but the workforce is ageing Secondary education – English woodland culture missing from the curriculum; focus only on global deforestation issues Further and higher education – loss of institutions and courses, drift from forestry to broader environmental disciplines But together we can tackle this…

Conifers for Colleges 12 Tackling pests and diseases A top ministerial priority: Continuing control action and surveying to limit spread of phytophthora ramorum Forest Research programmes working on dothistroma, pine tree lappet moth etc More investment in import controls – significant interceptions recently Systems improvement – plant health risk register, increasing sector and stakeholder understanding and co-operation

Conifers for Colleges 13 Planting for the future on the PFE Previous planting Current planting : “Big 6” – 88% Alternative conifers: 2% Broadleaves: 10% : “Big 4” – 68% Alternative conifers: 17% Broadleaves: 15%

Conifers for Colleges 14 Research and information

Conifers for Colleges 15 Supporting conifers What the Commission is doing: Public Forest Estate supplies 58% of English softwood. We planted 4.5 million conifers last season. Forest Research programmes working on timber quality for alternative species – and our improved Sitka yields +25% Woodland creation grants will continue to support conifer planting Above all – supporting the sector’s own initiatives: Grown in Britain, Roots to Prosperity, Woodland Carbon Code etc

Conifers for Colleges 16 Skills – lots of good news Apprenticeships on the rise: Forestry Trailblazer announced this week Forestry Skills Initiative FC apprenticeships Working with schools Forests for the Future – KS2 RFS Teaching Trees Herefordshire Hub HE & FE – on the way back? Reading, Birmingham, ICF, RFS… …and Conifers for Colleges

Conifers for Colleges 17 It’s not the trees – it’s the people