Woodland Cover in the South West Forest

The South West Forest is a geographic area of North Devon and North Cornwall lying between the Atlantic Coast and the arc formed by the uplands of Exmoor, Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor, a landscape known primarily as the Culm character area.

Woodland cover in the South West Forest area stood at 9.8 % in 1997 at the time when the South West Forest Partnership was established, making it one of the least wooded areas in the country. Since that time around 3100 hectares of new woodland has been created, increasing the overall woodland cover to 11.0%.

Woodland provides an important backdrop to this deeply rural area, impacting on its biodiversity, landscape, and economics. A study of the woodlands across the whole of the South West estimated the annual value of timber and the woodland landscape to be:

Data: SW England Woodland and Forestry Strategic Economic Study – Oct 2002
	£ million
Timber Production and Processing	200
Tourism, Recreation, Sport and Health	300
Environmental Benefits	75

The long term aspiration is to create 30,000 hectares of new woodland over the next 50 years. This will double woodland cover, helping to link up semi-natural habitats creating a more robust habitat structure which will be increasingly important as the climate changes, whilst at the same time establishing an ever increasing timber resource. The new woodlands could ultimately yield a sustainable volume of some 225,000 cubic metres of timber which at today’s prices could be worth in the region of £5.4 million/year to the local economy.

The information provided on this web page shows total woodland cover, the relative split between conifers and broadleaves and the amount of Ancient Semi Natural Woodland (ASNW) that remains. ASNWs are sites that are known to have been continuously wooded since 1600 and may well therefore be primary woodland sites derived from prehistoric wildwood. The data is displayed by the District Councils which lie either wholly or in part within the South West Forest. Data is also provided for the South West Forest area and for comparison the counties of Devon and Cornwall.

Ancient Semi Natural Woodland

	Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland Original	Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland Replanted	Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland Total	Total Land Area	Percentage of Ancient Woodland Cover
North Cornwall District	748ha	2 093ha	2 841ha	119 500ha	2.4
North Devon District	1 117ha	1 079ha	2196ha	108 600ha	2.0	Map
Mid Devon District	974ha	1 128ha	2 101ha	91 300ha	2.3	Map
West Devon Borough	917ha	1 491ha	2 408ha	116 000ha	2.1	Map
Torridge District	1 345ha	1 198ha	2 543ha	98 400ha	2.6	Map
South West Forest Area	3 995ha	3 310ha	7 305ha	311 136ha	2.3	Map
Devon (including Exeter, Plymouth & Torbay)	8 384ha	7 504ha	15 888ha	670 700ha	2.4	Map
Cornwall County	2 776ha	4 324ha	7 100ha	356 300ha	2.0

National Inventory of Woodland and Trees

	National Inventory of Woodland & Trees Broadleaves	National Inventory of Woodland & Trees Conifers	National Inventory of Woodland & Trees Young Trees (mainly new planting)	National Inventory of Woodland & Trees Total	Total Land Area	Percentage of Woodland Cover
North Cornwall District	6 344ha	3 651ha	958ha	10 953ha	119 500ha	9
North Devon District	7 198ha	2 503ha	647ha	1 0348ha	108 600ha	10	Map
Mid Devon District	5 705ha	2 257ha	369ha	8 331ha	91 300ha	9	Map
West Devon Borough	7 431ha	3 532ha	741ha	11 704ha	116 000ha	10	Map
Torridge District	6 442ha	3 871ha	1 689ha	12 002ha	98 400ha	12	Map
South West Forest Area	21 866ha	8 715ha	3 656ha	34 237ha	311 136ha	11	Map
Devon (including Exeter, Plymouth & Torbay)	44 016ha	18 911ha	4 382ha	67 309ha	670 700ha	10	Map
Cornwall	21 606ha	6 099ha	1 699ha	29 404ha	356 300ha	8

Broadleaves – all existing broadleaf woodlands including areas with conifer but that are predominately broadleaf in nature.

Conifer – all conifer woodland including areas recently felled and prepared for re-stocking. Conifer woods may contain small areas of broadleaves.

Young Trees - all new planting both conifer and broadleaves since 1999 including both conifer and broadleaves.

Data and Copyright

The data used to compile these statistics was provided by the Forestry Commission and Natural England; both data sets are protected by Crown Copyright.

Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey mapping with the permission of the controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office © Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Licence no. 100019783.