Thoughts on trees & timber: Student reports from Timber!

Rowena Young, who joins the MSc Forestry programme at Bangor University in September, thought the conference “marked something of a watershed for commercial forestry”.

In a short article, she wrote: “Emerging from a long and fractious episode with the environmental movement, a new consensus has broken out.

She also noted that “developing pace is the necessary touchstone given timber production is forecast to drop out just as demand rockets” - and that “it is important to recognise a renewed licence to operate stems from lessons learned” from the mistakes of the last century.

She said:  “The penny has dropped that relying on imports is a fool’s game.”

Rowena also asked several pertinent questions about some of the issues not covered in great detail at the event.

Dara Hunter Blair, a student of Land and Property Management at Harper Adams University and currently on placement with the Duchy of Lancaster, described attending the conference as “a really positive experience”. 

He added: “Having grown up on an estate in south west Scotland with a father who is a professional forester, I have attended my fair share of [forestry] events. 

“At these events I have experienced the views and demands of foresters, both in terms of policy and practice, the need for more planting, the need for better understanding of the sector, and the need for more pragmatic and practical government support.

“It is encouraging to see action finally being taken on some of these policies as the full understanding of the task the forestry sector faces on the road to net zero starts to be addressed. The consensus at this year’s conference of the need for more coniferous commercial plantations, particularly in England, has given a student like me the confidence that there is a future in forestry that will encourage private landowners to invest in new planting schemes capable of delivering long-term returns.”

Chris Moodie, a second year forestry student at the University of Cumbria, said he took a huge amount away from the conference - especially “the passion with which the key speakers spoke and their willingness to engage with probing and sometimes quite difficult questions from the audience”.

He loved chatting during the breaks with “so many interesting Confor members eager to share advice and support” and concluded: “I left certain that whilst we strive to overcome the difficult economic and environmental crisis in the current geopolitical world, the forestry sector has a voice, a loud one! A voice we must use to extol the virtues of the industry and its many dedicated practitioners of which I hope to become one in the not too distant future.”