Thetford Forest is a unique 47,000-acre landscape straddling the border of Norfolk and Suffolk in the East of England. Cambridge Universityʼs Eleanor Tew is helping the Forestry Commission plan for the next 100 years of its life.
The patchwork of pines, heathland and broadleaf trees that make up Thetford Forest has been carefully managed since its beginnings nearly a century ago, when the Forestry Commission was tasked by the UK government with reforesting a nation depleted by the demands of the First World War. Today, the Forest is prized for the value of its timber and its biodiversity, and attracts a million-plus visitors every year.
But modern forestry faces new challenges. “Around a third of global forests are managed for timber production, but these forests also play a vital role in helping to look after the planet’s biodiversity, water, soil and carbon,” says PhD student Eleanor Tew, who works with Professor William Sutherland in the Universityʼs Department of Zoology.
“Management strategies are increasingly looking to balance the economic needs of forestry with the maintenance of resilient and functioning ecosystems.”
All these goods and benefits – its ‘ecosystem services’ – need to be considered by the Forestry Commission when it designs strategies for the nation’s forests. And, because trees take so long to grow, these strategies need to be ‘future-proofed’ for up to 100 years so that trees planted now will continue to thrive and be of benefit to future generations.
Eleanor has been examining over 40 different management options in Thetford Forest with the Commission, who sponsor her research alongside the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). For each option, she looks at its impact on up to nine different ecosystem services: timber production, carbon sequestration, water supply, soil quality, recreation, scenic beauty, heritage values, wildlife and conservation.
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge