Plant Health Week
The Royal Forestry Society is delighted to support UK Plant Health Week. Managing plant health is vital to building resilient woodland for the future.
National Plant Health Week was born out of the International Year of Plant Health 2020. It is a designated week of action to raise public awareness and engagement on how to keep our plants healthy. Thursday is the UN’s International Day of Plant Health.
Find out about the events and webinars being put on by the many different organisations. Follow our Social Media and #planthealthweek. Check out the following RFS links on the many topics covered.
As ash dieback continues to devastate woodland across the country, the Royal Forestry Society (RFS) and the Forestry Commission are sharing the experiences of landowners and managers in managing it.
Find the 10 case studies featured in partnership with the Forestry Commission Volume One. A second volume of case studies will be published soon.
We are also running a one-day training course on managing ash dieback on July 5.
New to our YouTube Channel for Plant Health Week is The Sad Tale of the Grey Squirrels and the Red Oak Avenue.
We also have two case studies explaining the costs of grey squirrel control. One is at a 16ha woodland in Wales and the other in an oak plantation.
Plant Art and Culture
Art and culture have featured in several of our Book Club discussions. These have included:
- Fiona Stafford on the Long, Long life of Trees
- James Canton talking about his meditative thoughts in The Oak Papers
- Dr Gabriel Hemery on writing The New Sylva and Sarah Simblet’s astonishing illustrations
- Ecologist George Peterken talking about what Art and the Arborealists brought to the study of Lady Park Wood.
Our Quarterly Journal of Forestry (QJF) carries regular articles on plant health research and management. Members can log in to search and read articles on past journals. Recent articles have included:
January 2021: ‘Understanding Acute Oak Decline’ by Katy Reed et al
April 21: ‘Ashes to Ashes’: Natural Selection for Ash dieback resistance by James KM Brown and Elizabeth Orton
January 2022: ‘Diversification for disease/pest resilience ‘by Berglind Karlsdóttir et al
April 2022: Phytophera Ramorum – the story so far by Joan Webber
April 2022: Phytophera pluvialis – a new Threat to forestry by Ana Pérez-Sierra et al
Whether you are looking to build in more resilience to climate change or to boost biodiversity to your woodland, we are proud to be sharing knowledge
- Just three acres of wildflower patches within a forest can hold nearly nine million flowers – enough to support over half a million pollinators per day. Emma Buckley is Buckley’s Bees’ Chief Executive. Read her blog here.
- If we want woodland and forests that will adapt to climate change and the challenges of new pests and diseases we need to make them more resilient. Read this James Cup award winning article on how forest resilience can be considered and implemented collaboration between the forest resilience teams of the Forestry Commission and Forestry England has won the James Cup.
- In September we have three one-day training courses looking at different aspects of alternative species choices and use.
- Glandy Cross Wood in West Wales, is a 38 hectare woodland bordering the Pembrokeshire National Park. It is in an area at medium risk of windthrow. Owners Duncan Winton and his father Alan are transforming it using mosaic planting in areas hit by windthrow and when mature trees are harvested. Read this case study.
- Harvesting in an area with Scheduled Monuments? This blog on using horse logging might inspire.
- Whatever you plant, knowing your forest or woodland soils is an essential! Read this blog by Andy Moffat on ‘Six things you need to know about Forest ‘ here.
See how we are helping to inspire future forest scientists through our Junior Forester Awards and other learning initiatives.
