John Boddy Award announced at Great Yorkshire Show
Congratulations to Bramham Park, winner of the 2026 John Boddy award, which is organised and judged by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, Royal Forestry Society and the Forestry Commission.
The importance of woodland resilience to climate change and future threats came under the spotlight for the prestigious Forestry trophy at the Great Yorkshire Show today.
The John Boddy Award for Forestry celebrates and rewards excellence in forestry creation, design and management in Yorkshire, with a different theme each year. This year sought out well managed and resilient woodlands.
Bramham Park has won the 2026 award, which is organised and judged by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, Royal Forestry Society and the Forestry Commission. Woodland Management at Bramham is overseen by Darryl Stubbs of DS Forest Management, who has played a major role in woodland management at the estate for over a decade.
Darryl said: “Winning an award like this gives you confidence that what you do is appreciated and is the right thing to do. There are a lot of foresters out there and it is great when we can work with our clients to achieve something like this.”
The judges were Ben Scotting, (Royal Forestry Society), Sam Cooper, (Forestry Commission) and David Tite (Yorkshire Agricultural Society).
The winning entry demonstrated an impressive breadth of well-considered approaches to woodland management including ground-truthed soil mapping to inform decisions, use of improved planting stock from specified provenances to supplement managed natural regeneration and developing stands for alternative silvicultural systems for increased structural diversity.
Management is producing good habitat and future quality timber, on an estate where the woodlands contribute valuable backdrop to high profile events.
To secure resilient woodland management outcomes the estate draws on well networked professionals with a depth of knowledge, coupled with species modelling of anticipated future climate scenarios and site suitability, using Forest Research’s freely available Ecological Site Classification tool (ESC).
Sam Cooper, Forestry Commission Partnership and Expertise Manager for Yorkshire, said: “It is fantastic to see strong applications this year, all delivering resilient woodlands. Trees live for decades, and in our changing world it’s essential we build resilience now, to ensure healthy adaptable forests and woodlands for upcoming generations.
Ben Scotting, Chairman of the Yorkshire Division of the Royal Forestry Society, said: “This year’s theme of Woodland Resilience focused on innovative approaches to new challenges forest owners or managers are facing in Yorkshire.
“Extreme weather events are more common and the effects of pests and disease that damage trees are increasing. It’s important that management strategies and decisions change to reflect this new reality and it was great to visit a variety of sites where these challenges are being met.”
GYS Forestry Steward Will Richardson said: “Creating and managing woodlands with a focus on resilience is a hugely important element of both protecting our rural environment and contributing to its success in so many vital elements such as carbon capture, increasing biodiversity and timber supply, we are delighted to be hosting this significant award once more.”
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