Editing Forestry Commission (section)

== History ==
[[File:Logging in Wykeham Forest - geograph.org.uk - 1226569.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The Forestry Commission produces timber from state-owned forests]]
The Forestry Commission was established as part of the Forestry Act 1919.<ref name=FCHistory/> The board was initially made up of eight forestry commissioners and was chaired by [[Simon Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat]] from 1919 to 1927.<ref name=GH>{{cite news|title=Forestry Commission Changes|newspaper=[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Glasgow Herald]]|date=1 January 1927|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BfU9AAAAIBAJ&pg=1275,58460&dq=forestry+commission+1919&hl=en|access-date=11 April 2012}}</ref> The commission was set up to increase the amount of woodland in Britain by buying land for [[afforestation]] and [[reforestation]].<ref name=FCHistory /> The commission was also tasked with promoting forestry and the production of timber for trade.<ref name=woodland>{{cite web|title=Forestry Commission – a brief history|publisher=Woodland Trust|url=https://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/woodland-economics/a-brief-history-of-the-forestry-commission/|access-date=14 November 2020}}</ref> During the 1920s the Commission focused on acquiring land to begin planting out new forests; much of the land was previously used for agricultural purposes.<ref name=FCHistory /> During the [[Great Depression]] the Forestry Commission's estate continued to grow so that it was just over 360,000 hectares of land by 1934.<ref name=FCHistory /> The low cost of land, and the need to increase timber production meant that by 1939 the Forestry Commission was the largest landowner in Britain.<ref name=ForestPoliciesBook>{{cite book|title=Forest Policies and Social Change in England|author=Sylvie Nail|date=July 2008|page=332|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-4020-8364-8}}</ref>

At the outbreak of the [[Second World War]] the Forestry Commission was split into the Forest Management Department, to continue with the commission's duties, and the Timber Supply Department to produce enough timber for the war effort.<ref name=FCHistory /> This division lasted until 1941, when the Timber Supply Department was absorbed by the [[Ministry of Supply]].<ref name=Forestry20C>{{cite book|title=British Forestry in the 20th Century:Policy and Achievements|author=Ernest Glenesk Richards|year=2003|publisher=Brill|page=16|isbn=978-90-6764-360-3}}</ref> Much of the timber supplied for the war came from the [[New Forest]] and the [[Forest of Dean]].<ref name=FCHistory /> The war also saw the commission introduce the licensing system for tree felling.<ref name=FCHistory /> By the end of the war approximately a third of available timber had been cut down and used.<ref name=ForestPoliciesBook />

The advisory committee on Forest Research was formed in 1929 to guide the research efforts of the Forestry Commission.<ref name=ACFR>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=5881&CATLN=3&accessmethod=5&j=1|title=Forestry Commission: Research Division: Correspondence and Papers|publisher=[[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|National Archives]]|date=1925–1961|access-date=5 May 2012}}</ref> After the war, the commission began to increase its research output significantly.<ref name=FCHistory /> This included the establishment of three research stations beginning with [[Alice Holt Forest|Alice Holt Lodge]] in 1946.<ref name=AliceHoltStation>{{cite web|url=http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/forestresearch.nsf/ByUnique/INFD-5UXLZ3|title=History of Alice Holt Lodge|publisher=Forestry Commission|access-date=5 May 2012|archive-date=11 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011214701/http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/forestresearch.nsf/ByUnique/INFD-5UXLZ3|url-status=dead}}</ref> The expansion in research accompanied a significant increase in timber sales, exceeding £2 million per year during the 1950s.<ref name=FCHistory />

The [[Countryside Act 1968]] required public bodies, including the Forestry Commission, to "have regard to the desirability of conserving the natural beauty and amenity of the countryside."<ref name=countrysideBill>{{cite news|title=The Countryside Bill|publisher=Oxford Journals|doi=10.1093/forestry/41.1.5|journal=Forestry|year=1968|page=5|volume=41|issue=1|url=http://forestry.oxfordjournals.org/content/41/1/5.extract|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415130425/http://forestry.oxfordjournals.org/content/41/1/5.extract|archive-date=15 April 2013|access-date=7 May 2012}}</ref> This forced the commission to focus on conservation and recreation as well as the production and sale of timber. The conservation effort was partly driven by [[Peter Garthwaite]]<ref name=PGObit>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1311888/Peter-Garthwaite.html|title=Peter Garthwaite|date=15 June 2001|access-date=6 May 2012|work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref> and [[Sylvia Crowe]]. Crowe also helped the Forestry Commission landscape their forests to make them more appropriate for recreational use.<ref name=FCHistory />

[[File:Northern Research Station - geograph.org.uk - 422952.jpg|thumb|right|The entrance to Northern Research station]]
Having begun to develop campsites within their forests during the early 1960s,<ref name=ForestHolidays>{{cite web|url=http://www.forestholidays.co.uk/cabins/about_us/history_of_forest_holidays.aspx |title=History of Forest Holidays|publisher=Forest Holidays|access-date=7 May 2012}}</ref> the commission set up a Forest Cabins Branch during the 1970s to expand the number of cabins available for the public to stay in during their holidays.<ref name=FCHistory /> In 1970 the commission opened its Northern research station in [[Roslin, Midlothian|Roslin]].<ref name=NorthernStation>{{cite web|url=http://www.forestry.gov.uk/fr/INFD-86RBP8|title=Celebrating the Northern Research Station's 40th anniversary|date=June 2010|publisher=Forestry Commission|access-date=5 May 2012|archive-date=15 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415014417/http://www.forestry.gov.uk/fr/INFD-86RBP8|url-status=dead}}</ref> The 1970s also saw the publication of a [[HM Treasury|Treasury]] report which stated "afforestation ... and replanting fell far short of achieving the official 10% return on investment" with concerns over the long term profitability of timber production.<ref name=ForestPoliciesBook /> This was coupled with a major outbreak of [[Dutch elm disease]] throughout the decade.<ref name=FCHistory />
[[File:Ennerdale.JPG|thumb|There are extensive valley forests in Cumbria; this is [[Ennerdale, Cumbria|Ennerdale]].]]
The [[early 1980s recession]] forced the Forestry Commission to expand its sales beyond Britain, exports quickly reached 500,000 tonnes of timber per year.<ref name=FCHistory /> The Forestry Act 1981 allowed the sale of Commission land that was used for forestry.<ref name=Repositioning>{{cite web|url=http://www.forestry.gov.uk/repositioning|title=Re-positioning programme|publisher=Forestry Commission Scotland|access-date=9 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222031429/http://www.forestry.gov.uk/repositioning|archive-date=22 February 2014}}</ref> By 1986 there were calls for the full privatisation of the Forestry Commission and its estate.<ref name=DougMasonObit>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/douglas-mason-6156040.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121224232018/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/douglas-mason-6156040.html|archive-date=24 December 2012|title=Douglas Mason|newspaper=The Independent|date=14 December 2004|author=Eamonn Butler|access-date=9 May 2012}}</ref><ref name=Hansard1986>{{cite Hansard |jurisdiction= |title=Forestry Commission: Assets Disposal Policy |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1986/mar/12/forestry-commission-assets-disposal |house=House of Lords |date=12 March 1986 |column_start=624 |column_end=627 |speaker= |position= |volume=472 |access-date=9 May 2012 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121226153506/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1986/mar/12/forestry-commission-assets-disposal |archive-date=2012-12-26}}</ref> Meanwhile, the Wildlife and Countryside (Amendment) Act 1985 had imposed a duty on the Forestry Commissioners to endeavour to achieve a "reasonable balance" the interests of timber production and conservation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/31|title=Wildlife and Countryside (Amendment) Act 1985|website=legislation.gov.uk|access-date=22 August 2020}}</ref> The [[Great Storm of 1987]] caused significant damage to forests under the control of the Commission, though most of the downed trees were recovered and eventually sold.<ref name=Storm1987>{{cite web|url=http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/forestry.nsf/byunique/infd-77eckr|title=The Great Storm of 1987 - Managing the timber|publisher=Forestry Commission|access-date=9 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120024559/http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/forestry.nsf/byunique/infd-77eckr|archive-date=20 January 2013}}</ref>

The early 1990s saw the Department of Forestry absorb the Forest Authority from the commission, which had previously acted as a separate government department.<ref name=Forestry20C /> The management of the forest estate became the responsibility of [[Forest Enterprise (England)|Forest Enterprise]], making up a major part of the reduced Forestry Commission.<ref name=ForestEnterprise>{{cite web|url=http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/HCOU-4U4HZU|title=About us - Forest Enterprise|publisher=Forestry Commission|access-date=10 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120420011050/http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/hcou-4u4hzu|archive-date=20 April 2012}}</ref> In 1993 it was again suggested that the Forestry Commission could be privatised, sparking protest from many conservation groups.<ref name=Forestry20C /><ref name=Halt1994>{{cite news|title=Appeals to halt forestry sell-off: Privatisation plans attacked after report claims safeguarding public access to woodlands would cost pounds 170m|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/appeals-to-halt-forestry-selloff-privatisation-plans-attacked-after-report-claims-safeguarding-public-access-to-woodlands-would-cost-pounds-170m-1393057.html|newspaper=The Independent|date=10 February 1994|author=Oliver Gillie|access-date=10 May 2012}}</ref> After the Forestry Review Group produced their report in 1994, it was announced by the government that "Forestry Commission woodlands will remain in the public sector".<ref name=Forestry20C />

The decline in timber sales since the mid-1990s forced the Commission to focus on research and recreation more than ever before, something that was encouraged by the government.<ref name=ForestPoliciesBook /> As a result the Forestry Commission began to expand woodland around urban areas for the first time.<ref name=ForestPoliciesBook />

[[Devolution in the United Kingdom|Devolution]] meant the Forestry Commission had to report to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly as well as the national Government. This was achieved by splitting responsibility for forests by national borders, resulting in the creation of Forestry Commission England, Scotland and Wales as sub-departments of the Forestry Commission of Great Britain.<ref name=Devolution>{{cite news|url=http://www.forestry.gov.uk/newsrele.nsf/AllByUNID/E1BA5B4217D21B6B80256CEF004E3FCB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218003849/http://www.forestry.gov.uk/newsrele.nsf/AllByUNID/E1BA5B4217D21B6B80256CEF004E3FCB|archive-date=18 December 2010|title=FORESTRY AGENCY BRANCHES OUT|date=31 March 2003|publisher=Forestry Commission|access-date=11 May 2012}}</ref> On 1 April 2013 Forestry Commission Wales was merged into [[Natural Resources Wales]]: between that date and April 2019 the Forestry Commission was responsible only for English and Scottish forests.

In October 2010, the government introduced the Public Bodies Bill to the [[House of Lords]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldbills/025/11025.i-ii.html|title=Public Bodies Bill [HL]|website=publications.parliament.uk}}</ref> which would have enabled the Secretary of State to sell or lease public forests in England.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/forestry-in-england-a-new-strategic-approach|title=Forestry in England: A new strategic approach|website=GOV.UK}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/briefingpapers/commons/lib/research/briefings/SNSC-05734.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110124173411/http://www.parliament.uk/briefingpapers/commons/lib/research/briefings/SNSC-05734.pdf|title=Government briefing notes|archive-date=24 January 2011}}</ref> According to ''[[The Guardian]]'', "the news [was] met with near-universal disgust and shock".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/oct/29/forest-sell-off-government|title=The great forest sell-off|author=Leo Hickman|newspaper=The Guardian|date=2010-10-29}}</ref> The same newspaper also quoted [[Caroline Lucas]] MP, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, as saying it was an "unforgivable act of environmental vandalism". An online petition opposing the sale received more than 500,000 signatories.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21275432|title='No sell-off' for public forests|date=31 January 2013|work=BBC News|access-date=2 September 2013}}</ref> In February 2011, after a sustained campaign of protest by groups such as the [[Ramblers]], [http://www.saveourwoods.co.uk Save Our Woods] and [[Hands off our Forest]], the government announced it had abandoned its current plans and would remove the forestry clauses from the Public Bodies Bill. An 'independent panel' was also established to advise on the future direction of forestry and woodland policy in England, and on the role of the Forestry Commission.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/feb/17/forest-sell-off-abandoned-sorry-caroline-spelman | work=The Guardian | first=Nicholas | last=Watt | title=Forest sell-off abandoned: I'm sorry, I got it wrong, says Caroline Spelman | date=17 February 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12491144|title=Sale of forests in England scrapped|work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12488847|title=Forest sale axed: Caroline Spelman says 'I'm sorry'|newspaper=BBC News|date=2011-02-17}}</ref> The panel's interim report in late 2011 suggested that the government had ignored the benefits of publicly owned forests.<ref name=Interim>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/dec/07/forests-woodlands-enviornment-benefits|title=Forestry sell-off plan overlooked benefits, panel says|date=7 December 2011|newspaper=The Guardian|author=Damian Carrington|access-date=28 May 2012}}</ref>

Due to austerity policies enacted in the UK from 2010 the Forestry Commission, like many government bodies, suffered a considerable cut in its budget to meet its running costs, despite buoyant timber production, recreation usage and revenue.  There have been considerable jobs losses in some sections, starting with 450 job losses in 2011.  Employee salaries were effectively frozen in 2011, with progression pay being removed, and the bottom of pay scales becoming the standard rate for the job.  This has created a wide variation in salaries for employees doing the same job and has reduced wage competitiveness, compared to some forestry employers. However, other government departments in Scotland and Northern Ireland have continued to honour progression pay.  This has created some retention and recruitment problems, particularly for professions such as forestry management and IT.

Forestry Commission Wales ({{langx|cy|Comisiwn Coedwigaeth Cymru}}) was separated from Forestry Commission on 1 April 2013, and merged with Environment Agency Wales and Countryside Council for Wales to create [[Natural Resources Wales]],<ref name=wales/> a single body delivering the environmental priorities of the [[Welsh Government]].<ref name=WG-SingleBody>{{cite web  |url=http://wales.gov.uk/topics/environmentcountryside/consmanagement/seb/?lang=en  |title=Single Body  |publisher=Welsh Government  |access-date=25 October 2012  |archive-date=31 May 2014  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531060629/http://wales.gov.uk/topics/environmentcountryside/consmanagement/seb/?lang=en  |url-status=dead  }}</ref> This move was controversial among forestry officials, with worries that the industry's voice will not be adequately heard in the new organisation.<ref name=BBC-20084131>{{cite news  |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-20084131  |title=Forestry concern as minister names natural resources body  |work=BBC News  |date=25 October 2012  |access-date=25 October 2012}}</ref> Two new bodies ([[Forestry and Land Scotland]] and [[Scottish Forestry]]) were established in Scotland on 1 April 2019 to take over the commission's responsibilities in Scotland.<ref name=scot/>

===The Forestry Commission's social concern===

Integral to the Acland Report of 1916, which led to the setting up of the Forestry Commission immediately after the war, was the wider social concern.<ref>Jan-Willem Oosthoek, The Logic of British Forest Policy, 1919-1970, Paper presented at the 3rd Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics, 2000; [[Alfred Gordon Clark|Charles Gordon Clark]], Forestry Commission social policy as illustrated by Brecon (later Brycheiniog) Forest, in Brycheiniog, The Journal of the Brecknock Society, vol. XLV 2014</ref> Large areas of upland Britain, it pointed out, were 'waste' and depopulated, and trees would not only increase their productiveness but 'demanded a higher rural population' than sheep rearing. They envisaged that 'the small holdings will be grouped together on the best land within or near the forests so as to economise labour in the working of the holdings, ... and to provide an ample supply of ... labour for [forestry] work. Families settled on new holdings in forest areas will be a net addition to the resident rural population'.<ref>Acland Report 1918: 28</ref>

This remained the philosophy of the commission for nearly fifty years. In 1946 the incoming Director General wrote of the employment created and the help of the commission towards a solution of 'one of the baffling social problems of our time... to draw men and their families "back to the land" and to make the attraction permanent', especially through the [[smallholding]]s policy.<ref>Taylor, W. L., Forests and Forestry in Great Britain, 1946, pp. 102–3</ref>

[[Simon Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat|Lord Lovat]], the 'Father' of the Forestry Commission, had extensive land holdings in Scotland, and it was in the Highlands that he and other Scottish landowners such as [[Sir John Maxwell Stirling-Maxwell, 10th Baronet|Sir John Stirling-Maxwell]] conceived of the scheme of land-settlement allied to forestry. As first chairman of the commission he was able to put into practice all over Britain this 'long cherished dream' of repopulating hill country, thanks to his good contacts in government. Money for the scheme was provided first by [[Philip Snowden]], Chancellor in the first Labour government, and then by his successor in Baldwin's Conservative administration, [[Winston Churchill]].

The scheme accordingly went ahead and created smallholdings in the new forests, of approximately ten acres, let for £15 a year. Originally 150 days' work was provided in the forests, but "in practice, of course, these smallholdings attracted the cream of our men whom we were glad to employ on full time..."<ref>Ryle, George, Forest Service, 1969, p. 188</ref> Existing and often derelict agricultural dwellings were adapted and new ones built to a small number of basic designs. The scheme "was never a directly economic proposition, but in the pre-war days when motor traffic was lacking and it was much more important than today to have a solid caucus of skilled woodmen {{sic}} living in the forests, the indirect benefits were inestimable. The holdings were a great success, and filled a genuine need in the countryside..."<ref>Ryle, op. cit.</ref>

The number of smallholdings built slowed down after the [[Great Depression]], was revived by the [[Special Areas Act 1934|Special Areas]] programme of 1934 onwards, but then was virtually ended by the [[Second World War]]. The total number of smallholdings was 1,511. After 1945 policy shifted to the building of houses without holdings. This was more economic for the Commission, and numbers of these peaked in 1955, with 2,688 cottages built by then. The smallholdings policy had been 'adequate during the early years of State forest development, when only a small nucleus of men was needed to plant and tend each forest. But expanding programmes of afforestation, new methods of fire protection, and above all the greatly increased volume of utilisation work that results as soon as the young woods reach the thinning stage, have made it essential, in most of the larger forests, to concentrate the building of new houses in villages or small community groups.'<ref>Edlin, H.L., Britain's New Forest Villages, article in Unasylva, 1952-3, p. 151; cf Annual Reports, e.g. 1951, 1952.</ref> With houses designed for head foresters, the peak year for all forest tenancies was 1958, with the Commission  owning a total of 4,627 properties.<ref>Annual Reports of the Forestry Commission, HMSO, 1920 onwards, for all figures of tenancies</ref>

Many of the more ambitious forest villages were never completed, partly because of their isolation, partly through financial restrictions, and partly because mechanisation, transport improvements, and more use of contract labour, all meant there was less need for staff houses. The social desirability of "company villages" in remote locations was questioned.<ref>Smith, F. V., Sociological Survey of Border Forest Villages, Forestry Commission Research and Development Paper 112, 1976; Irving, B. L., and E. L. Hilgendorf, Tied Houses in British Forestry, Forestry Commission Research and Development Paper 117, nd, ?1977-8</ref>

Some houses had been sold on the open market by 1972, when government policy encouraged the disposal of 'surplus' land and buildings.<ref>Forestry Policy, HMSO, 1972</ref> The gradual sale of housing to incomers became a flood in 1978-9 (under Labour), and the Thatcher administration then encouraged surviving tenants to buy with generous discounts.<ref>Annual Reports 1981, 1982</ref>

Although the social policy of the Forestry Commission is a thing of the past, its social impact on upland areas remains large, with many hamlets and small villages in what would otherwise be deserted or near-deserted valleys.<ref>Charles [[Alfred Gordon Clark|Gordon Clark]], Forestry Commission Social Policy as illustrated by Brecon (later Brycheiniog) Forest, in Brycheiniog, The Journal of the Brecknock Society, Volume XLV, 2014, pp. 101-114</ref>