Creating new woodlands

Our conservation grants are helping the Woodland Trust to restore the ancient woodland at Great Knott Wood

'Mosses on oak trunk in FLD's restored Hows Wood, Eskdale'

Today we work to remove intrusive, monotonous non-native conifer blocks and help create mixed new native woodland, through working with the Forestry Commission, the Lake District National Park Authority and Natural England. We also work to keep rural skills alive and promote woodland wildlife diversity through coppicing, pollarding, funding woodland craft skills & chainsaw usage.

Our grants support landowners and community groups to establish new native woodlands like this one at The Low Wood nr. Ambleside

Woodland skills

We have supported training through the Bill Howgarth Memorial Apprenticeship Trust and engaging volunteers to get into the woods to practice coppicing.Friends grants help to increase woodland skills such as coppicing

One of our pioneering campaigns was to halt the large-scale afforestation of the central Lakeland fells with huge monotonous areas of conifer trees. This led to the historic Forestry Agreement between The Forestry Commission and CPRE in 1936, which identified ‘no-go areas’ for commercial conifer plantations.

Well-managed woodlands enhance the landscape, provide diverse wildlife habitats, protect soils, absorb CO2, reduce water run-off and create a great environment for people to enjoy all year round.