[Adastra] Heartwood Forest

[Patrick Roper]

There is an article here about the first trees to be planted in the 'new'
Heartwood Forest in Hertfordshire by the Woodland Trust.

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/4766084.From_field_to_forest/

Among other things it says "today it was announced a further £1.3 million
had been donated by the Forestry Commission" towards this project.

If it is 'further' I wonder how much they have given already of what is,
presumably, taxpayers money.

While there are many issues emerging concerning this plantation psychology,
I do wonder why we all have to pay for saplings and their planting when, as
has been shown at the Rothampsted Research Centre, also in Hertfordshire,
that natural regeneration is perfectly feasible.  Here, on Geescroft field,
1.3ha was abandoned in the 1880s after attempts to grow continuous field
beans failed. It is now a mature deciduous woodland dominated by oak and ash
with a rapidly expanding understorey of holly.

Patrick Roper