PM 3 - Create new woodlands to reconnect and buffer existing woodlands
- Code
- PM 3
- Measure
- Create new woodlands to reconnect and buffer existing woodlands
- Description
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New woodland habitats should be created in areas to reconnect isolated woodlands or trees to improve connectivity across the landscape and between different woodland types. Natural colonisation through a successional scrub habitat phase, targeted tree planting or seed sowing can all help to establish diverse woodland corridors. Suitable buffer habitats can include mosaics of scrub and grassland habitats or trees, for example planting shelter belts to protect existing woodlands from the wind. Trees should be locally sourced, by harvesting seed from local and native trees to retain the local seed bank and support climate resilience. Where the woodland creation objectives include sustainable timber production, trees of a more southerly provenance (e.g. 3 degrees south) can be considered as these may be more productive under certain climate change scenarios. Measures for woodland creation will need to consider the likely risk of pests notably deer and grey squirrel in order to ensure high rates of success.
- Wider environmental benefits
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Increasing woodland cover Improving air quality Improving water quality Increasing flood risk management Reducing climate change impacts Improving soil health Promoting nature friendly farming
- Links to additional information and guidance
- Priority
- Herefordshire’s woodlands are well-managed and restored with woodland corridors created across the landscape
- Priority description
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Trees and woodlands hold significant biodiversity value and support wider benefits such as reduced flood risk, carbon sequestration and improved air quality. Herefordshire has approximately 19% woodland and tree cover, which is concentrated in areas such as the Malvern Hills or Wye Valley National Landscapes. It also has a significant number of isolated ancient woodlands, wood-pasture and parkland, and traditional orchards, a form of wooded habitat; all are of high importance in Herefordshire and are subject to separate priorities and measures. Approximately two thirds of the county’s woodlands are managed. Sustainable timber production can support woodland ecology and play an important role economically and environmentally in providing locally sourced timber. Sustainable woodland management is therefore critical for the longevity of wooded habitats in good ecological condition across Herefordshire as they face threats from pests, diseases, damage by grey squirrels and overgrazing by deer. Having a woodland management plan will support woodland owners to review their aims and objectives. The creation of new woodlands and corridors will also further support the climate resilience of these habitats, increase local timber production and enable species with poor powers of dispersal to commute, forage and migrate.
- Mapped