Objective 1

Woodlands, trees and wooded environments used more widely as a resource for community participation and a wide range of learning activities, supported by high quality, accessible information and interpretation.

In many local communities woodlands are highly valued as a resource for recreation, education and community action. However, the use and enjoyment of local woodland can be constrained by a lack of information or confidence, with people not knowing where they can go or what they can do.

Local attitudes and patterns of use of woodland vary greatly and are often heavily influenced by other factors such as the general availability and accessibility of local greenspace, ability to pay for transport and other access costs and considerations of personal safety and security.

There is a concern that society generally has a low level of understanding of woodlands as a land use and that this sometimes leads to misuse and conflict, as well as many missed opportunities. Equally a lack of regard for the sensitivities of woodland, its ownership and management objectives can sometimes bring visitors into conflict with landowners.

Positive experiences of woodland and other forms of greenspace in childhood are essential to the establishment of future attitudes and behaviours and should be available through all the schools in the region. This may range in scale from tree planting initiatives in school grounds or the establishment of individual forest schools to formal programmes such as those run by Forest Enterprise and The National Forest at centres such as Sherwood Pines and Conkers.

Influencing a change in behaviour and attitudes to the environment at individual as well as institutional levels is a significant challenge facing the East Midlands region.

The opportunity to influence real behavioural change is greatest where there is active community participation in woodland management and ownership. Good community outreach and support are therefore an essential component of successful woodland initiatives and are particularly effective where they work with other agencies and interests to deliver integrated social, environmental and economic objectives.

Ensuring quality and consistency of any resulting provision is vital for both landowners and funding bodies, whether this is low key, clear and well-maintained site signage and information or supporting good quality interpretation materials.

Objective 2

A shared approach to issues and opportunities supported by more effective communication, collaboration and regional networking across the public, private and voluntary sector interests.

The ‘land based industries’ utilise and shape around 85% of our land and are a major influence on the landscape, environment and quality of life in the region. Agriculture dominates the sector, in both financial and geographical scale, and it is often seen, mistakenly, as being representative of the needs of all land based businesses. Forestry and the management of trees and woodlands have not tended to figure prominently in the East Midlands .

In fact the picture is complex and is likely to become more so over time. Forestry and woodland management in the region has distinctive features and needs in terms of business support, research and development, training and skills. Those need to be recognised and addressed by private and public sector representative bodies working together more effectively to develop and maintain the profile of the sector.

At the same time the drive for diversification of all forms of land based business is generating new needs and opportunities. Many diversification skills are transferable and there is scope for the woodland sector to more actively exchange good practice and learn from others within various sectors of land management such as agriculture and horticulture.

The region is host to a number of successful regional and national woodland initiatives based on active partnerships between public, private and voluntary sector organisations. There is however, scope for these initiatives to co-operate and collaborate and to share knowledge and information more actively. This may be through the establishment of a physical network of bodies which meets and works together, but may also benefit from the development of a web based resource of information, guidance and good practice.

The enhanced regional awareness and understanding of woodland issues that has been generated by the Space4trees process now needs to be maintained and to be built upon.