Our webinar series has now ended - all webinars are available to watch below.
TreE PlaNat wrap-up webinar: Creating woodland through natural processes
In this webinar, we present the findings of the TreE PlaNat project, examining the socio-ecological consequences of woodland expansion through planting, natural colonisation and hybrid approaches. We share new ecological and social research findings, the outcomes of our knowledge exchange activities, and perspectives on natural colonisation and involvement in the project from project partners (Woodland Trust and National Forest Company) and contributors Stump up for Trees, South Yorkshire Woodland Partnership and Natural England. Format: presentations of background and findings from the project team, practitioner panel discussion, and Q&A.
Speakers:
Elisa Fuentes-Montemayor, University of Stirling
Bianca Ambrose-Oji, Forest Research
Laura Braunholtz, University of Stirling
Sam Hughes, Forest Research
Susannah Fleiss, University of Edinburgh
Vanessa Burton, Woodland Trust
Heather Gilbert, National Forest Company
Jenny Knight, Stump up for Trees
Matt North, South Yorkshire Woodland Partnership
Clare Pinches, Natural England
This webinar took place on Monday 20th January 2025.
Speakers:
Elisa Fuentes-Montemayor, University of Stirling
Bianca Ambrose-Oji, Forest Research
Laura Braunholtz, University of Stirling
Sam Hughes, Forest Research
Susannah Fleiss, University of Edinburgh
Vanessa Burton, Woodland Trust
Heather Gilbert, National Forest Company
Jenny Knight, Stump up for Trees
Matt North, South Yorkshire Woodland Partnership
Clare Pinches, Natural England
This webinar took place on Monday 20th January 2025.
Webinar 6: From field to forest - Why people choose natural colonisation for woodland expansion
This webinar covers 4 years of research across 2 projects looking at land managers’ decision-making for woodland expansion choices. We share our findings on land manager perceptions of risks, benefits, and challenges with natural colonisation; views on tradeoffs between natural colonisation, tree planting, and hybrid approaches; and factors that influence uptake of natural colonisation such as communication and language and grant design.
Speakers:
Bianca Ambrose-Oji, Forest Research
Rachel Orchard, Forest Research
This webinar took place on Monday 9th December 2024, 12-1pm.
Speakers:
Bianca Ambrose-Oji, Forest Research
Rachel Orchard, Forest Research
This webinar took place on Monday 9th December 2024, 12-1pm.
Webinar 5: Ecological outcomes of treescape expansion through planting and natural colonisation
This webinar provides the findings of ecological fieldwork in young woodland sites, led by Laura Braunholtz. Laura presents results on the biodiversity, habitat structure and ecological functioning across sites created through tree planting, natural colonisation and a blend of these two methods.
Speakers:
Elisa Fuentes-Montemayor, University of Stirling
Laura Braunholtz, University of Stirling
Matt Guy, Forest Research
This webinar took place on Tuesday 22nd October 2024.
Speakers:
Elisa Fuentes-Montemayor, University of Stirling
Laura Braunholtz, University of Stirling
Matt Guy, Forest Research
This webinar took place on Tuesday 22nd October 2024.
Webinar 4: Using LiDAR in woodland ecology
This webinar gives an introduction to LiDAR, and explores how it can advance our understanding of woodland ecology, illustrated primarily through the work of the TreE PlaNat project. The speakers explain the process of collecting, ground-truthing and interpreting LiDAR data for TreE PlaNat, and share what the project's LiDAR data have revealed about woodland creation so far.
Speakers:
Thiago Silva, University of Stirling
Sam Hughes, Forest Research
Laura Braunholtz, University of Stirling
This webinar took place on Friday 17th May 2024.
Webinar 3: Ecology of naturally colonised woodlands
This webinar brought together ten ecological researchers studying natural colonisation. Speakers provide both broad-scale studies and specific examples of natural colonisation that they have studied, followed by a discussion covering topics including how natural colonisation operates through space and time, its ecological benefits, challenges in implementing and understanding it, and key knowledge gaps. The webinar will finish with audience Q&A.
Speakers:
Kevin Watts, Forest Research/University of Stirling
Laura Braunholtz, University of Stirling
Richard Broughton, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Vanessa Burton, Woodland Trust
Thomas Murphy, University of Plymouth
Richard Thompson, Forestry and Land Scotland
George Porton, University of Leeds
Dom Spracklen, University of Leeds
Pip Gullett, Cairngorms Connect
With additional contributions from:
Cat Scott, University of Leeds
Matt Guy, Forest Research
The webinar took place on Tuesday 6th February 2024.
Webinar 2: How to fund natural colonisation?
This webinar outlines current funding available for creating new woodland through natural colonisation, and explores the challenges and opportunities in making this successful. Representatives from the Forestry Commission, England's Community Forests (Mersey Forest) and the Northern Forest present their experiences of creating and using grant funding for natural colonisation. The webinar finishes with a panel discussion and Q&A.
Speakers:
Rachel Orchard, social scientist with the TreE PlaNat project, Forest Research
Louise Alexander, Incentives Development Manager - EWCO, Forestry Commission
Tim Oliver, Trees for Climate Coordinator, Mersey Forest (England's Community Forests)
Sian Atkinson, Senior Outreach Manager for Northern England, Woodland Trust
With additional contributions from:
Alec Rhodes, Head of Incentives Development and Compliance, Forestry Commission
Lauren Taylor, Woodland Advisor, Mersey Forest (England's Community Forests)
Dave Armson, Community Forester, Mersey Forest (England's Community Forests)
The webinar took place on Friday 20th October 2023.
Webinar 1: introduction to using natural colonisation to create new woodland
The webinar provides an introduction to the TreE PlaNat project and the ideas behind it, looking at the potential role of natural colonisation in expanding woodland cover in the UK. Representatives of the National Forest Company and Woodland Trust (project partners) present their experiences of creating new areas of woodland through natural colonisation, covering current knowledge and key knowledge gaps. The webinar finishes with a Q&A.
Speakers:
Elisa Fuentes-Montemayor, TreE PlaNat Principal Investigator; Senior Lecturer, University of Stirling
Sam Lattaway, Head of Strategy and Research, The National Forest Company
Saul Herbert, Conservation Outcomes Manager, Woodland Trust
Fran Graham, Woodland Creation Manager (Northern Forest), Woodland Trust
The webinar took place on Thursday 18th May 2023.