Environment Systems Wins ‘Woods for People’ Project

Environment Systems has won a three year contract to maintain the ‘Woods for People’ database of publicly accessible woodland. Environment Systems has been involved with this project since 2003 with responsibility for data collection and maintenance. The data is analysed against standards to develop targets for improving public access to woodland across the UK.

‘Woods for People’ is a partnership between the Woodland Trust and the Forestry Commission, set up to create and maintain an inventory of accessible woodland in the UK. Data on the  early and subsequent versions of the database have been analysed to produce targets for increasing woodland access, set out in the publication  ‘Space for People’ . These targets are used to lobby government and others to increase both access and the amount of woodland to ensure everyone has a basic level of access. Accurate and comprehensive ‘Woods For People’ data is vital to producing these targets.

The Woods for People dataset now also forms the basis for a new initiative launched early in 2011, ‘VisitWoods’, a web-based information portal that aims to get more people out into the woods.

In each year Environment Systems’ work on this project will include the maintenance of a contacts database for landowners, local authorities and other organisations that deal with woodland access followed by detailed information gathering to update existing maps. Map updating is carried out in a GIS using the ‘National Inventory of Woodland and Trees’ (NIWT) and the new ‘National Forest Inventory’ (NFI) with all woodland extents saved as ‘polygons’ that can be used for the VisitWoods public access website (http://visitwoods.org.uk/).

As well as being places to exercise, play and relax woods are a key part of the green space, so important to people’s surroundings and quality of life. Trees and woods store carbon, generate oxygen, stabilise the soil, and help to improve water quality. They can help mitigate the affects of climate change by providing a cooling effect in urban areas, and flood alleviation in those places increasingly affected by this problem. Trees and woods, are also essential to biodiversity, providing habitats rich in wildlife.

“We are delighted to win this latest phase of work for the ‘Woods For People’ project,” said Steve Keyworth, Commercial Director. “We have been closely involved with this project, almost from its start and it is gratifying to see the progress that has been made in improving the access to woodland,” continued Keyworth.

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The Woodland Trust
The Woodland Trust was founded in 1972 and is one of the UK’s leading charities. The Trust owns and cares for over 1,000 woods, covering 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares), virtually all of which are open for all to visit. The Trust has the support of over 200,000 members who are crucial to its work. The Trust acquires and restores ancient woodland sites, fights to save woods under threat, campaigns on important issues such as climate change, and creates new woodland for wildlife and people to enjoy. 

www.woodlandtrust.org.uk

www.visitwoods.org.uk