Friends of the Lake District has written to the Government's panel on the future of England's public forests.

Read our response here

Friends of the Lake District and Save Lakeland's Forests encouraged people to contact the Government's Panel on Forestry, which was set up earlier this year after public protests about plans to sell off the forests.

The two campaign groups are also urging the Panel to visit the Lake District's forests before they produce an interim report this autumn.

The Panel, which is chaired by the Bishop of Liverpool, invited members of the public to send in the views on the future of the forests by 31st July 2011.

The Panel say they ‘would welcome your views and ideas on any aspect of forests and woods'.

Lord Clark of Windermere, who is a former Chairman of the Forestry Commission, says: "The Government's plans to sell off our public forests provoked a huge outcry earlier this year. However, it would be wrong to believe these forests are now safe.

"If you care about our public forests, walk your dogs in these woods, ride a mountain bike on one of the trails, enjoy having the chance to see the Lake District ospreys, the recently reintroduced red kites or our remaining red squirrels it's important to let this Panel know how important our public forests are to you.

"The panel need to be reminded that people in this country feel passionately about the public forests and want to maintain them for future generations to be able to enjoy."

People can keep in touch with the Panel via: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Jack Ellerby from Friends of the Lake District says: "People in the Lake District showed how much the public forests here mean to them. Our forests are used by a very large number of local people and visitors. They must have an opportunity to make their views known to the Panel and it's important that members of the Panel also get the chance to see different types of public forests.

"I would therefore urge the Panel to make time for a visit to the Lake District's forests over the summer including talking to wildlife experts, walkers, mountain bikers and horse riders in this area."

The Government abandoned their consultation on transferring all forests out of public hands in February after the plans were widely criticised. Over half a million people signed a national petition against any sell offs and there were protests in the Lake District and other parts of the country.

For more information on Save Lakeland's Forests visit www.savelakelandsforests.org.uk. For more information on Friends of the Lake District visit www.fld.org.uk.