A century in trees

The Forestry Commission is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and you can explore its growth through a timeline of photographs.

The Forestry Commission will be celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and you can explore its century of growth through a timeline of fascinating photographs.

The story starts with the Forestry Act 1919, introduced to address severe timber shortages following the First World War, and to increase British woodland cover, which was at an all-time low of 5%. The Act established the Forestry Commission to oversee the creation of state-owned woods and forests and promote and develop forestry.

This is a good-news story: one hundred years later, UK forest cover has risen to 13%. The Forestry Commission has grown to become England’s largest landowner, looking after over 1,500 forests covering 250,000 hectares. Its forests get over 226 million visits each year, making it the single largest provider of outdoor recreation in England.

View the forestry timeline at www.forestryengland.uk

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Steve Ott

Steve Ott is editor of Kitchen Garden magazine and started his career as a professional grower, producing everything from cut flowers to vegetables. He has been growing fruit and veg all his life and spends most of his spare time in his garden in the East Midlands. He loves to experiment with crops and varieties he has never grown before and when he isn’t gardening is to be found out in the countryside bird watching and walking his dog Ted.

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