The Crown Estate owns some 14,000 hectares (34,000 acres) of forestry in England, Scotland and Wales, including the Windsor estate. Approximately 10,000 ha of this area is managed in-hand with the remainder leased to the Forestry Commission.
Committed to a multi-use sustainable woodland management strategy, our management aims to maximise the benefits our woodlands provide for recreational access, biodiversity, local communities landscape, education and commercial timber production. In England and Wales our forestry is managed with a strategy for continuous cover, and timber production is carried out through selective fellings of single or groups of trees. This protects the landscape, introduces trees of different ages and increases the sustainability of the woodlands, as well as benefitting the biodiversity of the woodlands. In Scotland many of our forests are commercial upland plantations and our aim is to restructure these areas as part of a long term plan to maintain timber production while creating a more diverse woodland structure which deliver multiple benefits for the environment, communities and sustainable tourism.
Our forests have been recognised with many awards. Dunster and Windsor have been awarded Centres of Excellence by the Forestry Commission. The Dunster Estate has been awarded the Duke of Cornwall’s Award for Woodland (2002) and The Royal Agricultural Society of England’s Award (2003). The Glenlivet woodlands were awarded the John Kennedy trophy in 1993 for multiple use forest management and in 2010 won the Dulverton Flagon for innovation and diversity as part of the Scotland’s Finest Woods awards which recognised the best of the best in Scottish forestry over the previous 25 years.
Since 2000 all our forests and woodlands have gained Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certification and comply with the standard set under the UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS). In 2005 a reassessment of our forests and woodlands was carried out by SGS Qualifor, leading to the renewal of our FSC certificate. This remains valid for a further five years, up to October 2010, and is subject to annual surveillance audits by SGS Qualifor and continued compliance with the FSC criteria as set out in the UKWAS. The Crown Estate has a long term commitment to sustainable woodland management on all of our estates and it is a policy priority to ensure our management complies with UKWAS.
In addition to the day-to-day management of our woodlands, the foresters are also responsible for checking roadside trees on all our agricultural estates to ensure the safety of the public from falling trees.
Management
Management of the UK rural estate woodlands is co-ordinated by The Head of Countryside Management based in our Edinburgh office. Local management staff are based in offices on our principal forest estates.
England and Wales
Our forests are managed from two centres. Our Windsor office is responsible for the 3,000 ha (7,400 acres) of Windsor Great Park forestry, along with woodlands at Oxshott in Surrey (339 ha).
Outside of Windsor, the Dunster office in Somerset manages several sites, including Dunster 1,025 ha (2,500 acres), Gopsall 164 ha (400 acres), Patshull 251 ha (620 acres), Taunton 117 ha (290 acres) and Tintern 40 ha (100 acres).
Scotland
In Scotland the Lockerbie office deals with woodlands at Applegirth (659 ha) and Whitehill (254 ha).
Forests at Glenlivet (3,657 ha) and Fochabers (219 ha) are managed from our office in Tomintoul, on our Glenlivet estate.
In addition to these forestry interests The Crown Estate also leases 4,000 ha (9,900 acres) to the Forestry Commission at various locations throughout England.
For contact details of our forestry offices, please visit: Contact Us.
For further information please contact: Head of Countryside Management, The Crown Estate, 6 Bells Brae Edinburgh EH4 3BJ. Tel 0131 260 6090
Further Information
