Bring back the ancient woodlands smothered beneath your timber plantations

Ancient woodlands are vanishing – and with them, some of our most loved and endangered wildlife. Forestry England manages over 100,000 acres of land that used to be ancient woodland - that’s bigger than the Isle of Wight. But instead of flourishing as rich, native forest, much of it has been turned into sterile plantations of fast-growing, non-native trees – choking out the life that once thrived there.

Buried in these ghost woods are the seeds, fungal networks and surviving species which cling on from centuries-old ecosystems. If we act now, we can bring them back. But if we miss this window, these precious seeds will die and these woods will be lost forever. 

Forestry England promised to restore these rare habitats by 2030 – but they’ve already missed the Government’s targets once, and they’re falling behind again.

We can’t let this happen. These forests belong to all of us – and to future generations.

With enough public pressure, we can make Forestry England stick to their promises and restore our ghost woods before it’s too late.