Tidenham and Wyeside Forest Plan

Tidenham and Wyeside Forest Plan

About

Between the lower reaches of the River Wye to the west and the River Severn Estuary to the east, this forest plan area covers the 525ha of mixed coniferous and broadleaved woodlands of Wyeside, Oakhill, East Wood, Ashwell Grove, The Park and Parsons Allotment, all of which have freehold status.

Lying just south of the Statutory Forest of Dean, three quarters of the plan area falls within the Wye Valley AONB and forms the scenic backdrop to the village of Tintern and its historic Cistercian Abbey.

There are around 90ha of ancient woodland within the plan area, with a further 260ha considered to be plantation on ancient woodland (PAWs) that, in line with current policy, will be converted over time back to native broadleaf woodland.

The plan area is of high conservation interest, and contains the largest area of priority lowland heath habitat in Gloucestershire (at The Park). The woodlands contain numerous notable veteran trees, valuable components of native broadleaf coppice, a diverse mixture of indigenous ground flora and sections of limestone pavement. Together, these habitats support a wide range of flora and fauna including dormice, bats, lepidoptera and schedule one birds.

Objectives

The social, economic and environmental objectives of management here are:

to deliver well-designed forests in keeping with the local landscape character;
to protect, enhance and restore areas of ancient woodland in line with the ‘Keepers of time’ policy;
to protect and enhance woodland and open habitats and their associated species;
the protection and enhancement of veteran trees / trees of special interest (TSI) and recruitment of future generations of veteran trees / TSI;
the continued production of sustainable and marketable woodland products;
to conserve, maintain and enhance cultural and heritage assets;
the management and restoration of statutorily designated areas such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest / Special areas of Conservation / Scheduled Ancient Monuments or Key Wildlife Areas.

What we'll do

The current plan outlines management proposals including felling and restocking over several decades, with felling licence approval for operations up until 2027.

Crops will be managed through the use of clearfelling and restocking supported with natural regeneration of native species. Some areas will be managed using continuous cover forestry prescriptions, so as to create a diverse and resilient forest structure for the future.

The plan makes provision for the removal of trees to enable an improved provision of open space habitats, especially in Parsons Allotment. Continuation of coppicing will continue to increase diversity of habitat and quality of internal landscaping.

Ongoing thinning and selective felling of both conifers and broadleaves will be carried out in the plan area at five to ten year intervals.

The species composition will change: