Unlock the

Woodlandkeys

9 activities with key questions to take learning further and trigger

debate on wider conservation issues

A useful and practical resource for practitioners leading

woodland activities

outdoors with

Woodland keys contents

Key 1 - Lines on the landscape

Take poetic inspiration from your natural surroundings

Key 2 - Folk tales: just a thing of the past? Stories of angels, elves and druids

Key 3 - Signs of succession Go on a journey from bare rock to lush woodland

Key 4 - Light = life Discover how healthy your woodland is

Key 5 - A strange relationship A game to explore the complexities of a lichen’s love life

Key 6 - The shapes of nature Take a close look at some of the woodland’s strangest inhabitants

Key 7 - Quick air quality check Use lichens as indicators of air pollution

Key 8 - Natural navigation Investigate whether plants can lead you through the landscape

Key 9 - Woodlands and water management Is there a role for woodlands in the fight against flooding?

The South West’s Atlantic woodlands such as those in Exmoor, Dartmoor, the Quantock Hills and along the North Devon coast, provide favourable growing conditions for plants such as lichens, mosses and ferns.

This damp environment has just the right levels of light, moisture, warmth, and age of trees, to enable a huge variety of species to thrive. These woodlands are sometimes described as Celtic rainforest.

Key ideasThis pack is designed for use by practitioners leading woodland activities. Each activity starts with a key idea, the exploration of which will increase people’s knowledge of the woodland habitat and encourage investigation. The accompanying key questions are discussion points to help you take the learning further and trigger debate on wider conservation issues, culture and social responsibility. Activities can be used individually or together to build on learning.

Woodland keys | Introduction

Woodland keysIntroduction

A lichen captured in Exmoor

© Ian McMillan

Old granite tramway in Dartmoor © Mike Boddy

Colley Brook Dartmoor

© Bernard Linnegar

Lichens are a combination of two things, algae and fungi. The alga, which is a plant, creates food through photosynthesis, and the fungus provides a body which protects the lichen from UV rays and retains moisture. Imagine a pea living inside a mushroom. Lichens do not need soil and can attach themselves to surfaces that other plants cannot grow on, such as rocks and bark. Lichens aren’t parasites so they don’t harm the trees they grow on.

Mosses are very ancient and small plants that do not need thick layers of soil in order to grow. They produce food through photosynthesis (transforming light energy from the sun into carbohydrates) and provide a habitat for tiny invertebrates, most of which are too small to be seen without magnification. Mosses can hold up to ten times their dry weight in water.

Key facts to help you to get startedDetach this card and use it to refer to when learning about lichens and mosses

Woodland keys | Key facts

Lobaria pulmonaria

© Ray Woods/Plantlife

Flavoparmelia caperata © Beth Halski/Plantlife

Veilwort © Ray Woods/Plantlife

Lichen

Lichen

Moss

Moss

A moss on a tree stump © Grace Powell

Hypnum cupressiforme © Dominic Price/Plantlife

Lobaria scrobiculata © Ray Woods/Plantlife

Moss

Lichen

Lichens and mosses come in a huge range of shapes, colours and sizes

Key idea

Natural landscapes, and the plants and animals within them, have had a significant impact on the development of our culture. Poets have long used the landscape as inspiration for their writing.

Try these activities...

• Read out the lines from these 19th-century poets who took inspiration from the landscapes of Exmoor and Dartmoor. What are they saying about nature in each poem? What kind of images are they creating in the mind of the listener?

• Tell the group they are going to create their own poem to evoke the atmosphere of the woodlands they are in.

• Show them something you have found in the woods (a stick, stone, seed etc). Pass it round the group and ask them to use all of their senses to come up with words that could describe its smell, what it feels like, what it looks like, how it might taste and its sound.

• Now ask individuals to find an object of interest to them in the woods, or a view they like, and come up with some descriptive words. Get the group into pairs, and ask them to share their descriptive words with each other.

• As a whole group, discuss the kind of things you might write about in a poem based on their observations.

• Ask small groups to write two lines each of a poem (a couplet); or maybe two couplets depending on the group and available time. Lines should be ten syllables long to give the poem a regular rhythm.

• Sit together in a circle and read out the couplets in turn. One person should either video the result or write it down to share later.

Lines on the landscape | Key 1

Lineslandscape

on the1

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There is a Thorn – it looks so old,In truth, you’d find it hard to sayHow it could ever have been young,It looks so old and grey.Not higher than a two years’ childIt stands erect, this aged Thorn;No leaves it has, no prickly points;It is a mass of knotted joints,A wretched thing forlorn.It stands erect, and like a stoneWith lichens is it overgrown.

II

Like rock or stone, it is o’ergrown,With lichens to the very top,And hung with heavy tufts of moss,A melancholy crop:Up from the earth these mosses creep,And this poor Thorn they clasp it roundSo close, you’d say that they are bentWith plain and manifest intentTo drag it to the ground;And all have joined in one endeavourTo bury this poor Thorn for ever.

Lines from The Thorn By William Wordsworth (1789), inspired by the Exmoor landscape

Lines on the landscape | Key 1

Lichen laden boughs on Exmoor

© Ian Macmillan

Taking inspiration from the Exmoor landscape

Lines from Osorio By Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1797), inspired by Culbone, Exmoor

The hanging woods, that touched by Autumn seem’d

As they were blossoming hues of fire and gold,

The hanging woods, most lovely in decay,

The many clouds, the sea, the rock, the sands,

Lay in the silent moonshine – and the owl,

(Strange, very strange!) the Scritch-owl only wak’d,

Sole voice, sole eye of all that world of beauty!

Taking inspiration from the Dartmoor landscape

Lines on the landscape | Key 1

Hawthorn and blackthorn festooned with moss

and lichen© Barbara Brown

Wistman’s Wood By Sophie Dixon (1829), inspired by Wistman’s Wood, Dartmoor

Scarce hoarier seems the ancient Wood

Whose shivered trunks of age declare

What scath of tempests they have stood

In the rock’s crevice rooted there;

Yet still young foliage, fresh and fair,

Springs forth each mossy bough to dress,

And bid e’en Dartmoor’s valleys share

A Forest-wilderness.

naturetouch

CREVICE

TASTECONJURE

smell

feelingthink

WOOD

JOINTS

creep

imagesFRESH

trunks

ROCK

ROOTmosses

forestage

age

ANCIENT

knotted

LICHENSwords

Lines on the landscape – Key questions

Lines on the landscape | Key 1

Using nature to aid navigation © Rachel Jones

Picking berries

© Plantlife

Bark rubbing © Simon Hammond

1. Does nature still have a role to play in modern culture (pop music, objects around your home, magazines, books, food you eat, TV programmes)?

2. How is nature represented in the media and who is nature programming content aimed at (eg cute and fluffy, things going wrong in nature, global warming; aimed at children, adults, middle aged)?

3. How do we as individuals value, utilise or celebrate nature (eg in art, how we spend our leisure time, products like cosmetics)?

4. Have any of the group’s views of nature changed through their experience today?

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Key idea In the past our close association with the natural world has influenced our way of life, and stories and beliefs have emerged which have shaped our behaviour.

Try this activity...

• There are many folk tales about plants in our woodlands. See if you can find any of these plants and share the stories about them.

Blackberry It was considered to be bad luck to eat or collect

blackberries after the 10 October, as on that day Lucifer (the Devil) lost a battle with the Archangel Michael and fell from heaven on to a blackberry bush, where he cursed and spat on it. This rule is still kept to by some pickers as a build-up of tannins in the fruit can make them bitter by autumn; and as the weather gets wetter, fungal spores grow on the fruit too.

Oak tree A typical tree of Atlantic woodlands, the oak is the King of

the Woods and the ash his Queen. Oaks can live for more than 200 years and tower over the majority of other trees. Due to their size, strength and longevity oak trees were revered by the Druids who used oak groves as places of worship. Their name comes from “druir”, the Celtic for oak, which also means door. Oak woodlands were thought to be magical doorways to other worlds.

Folk tales: just a thing of

the past?

Folk tales: just a thing of the past? | Key 2

An ancient oak tree © Paul Rutter

Blackberries © Beth Halski/Plantlife

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HawthornThe hawthorn is steeped in folklore. Places where it grows together with oak and ash were meant to be part of fairy land. The five parts of the leaf were said to make the pentagram or Elven Cross, a magical symbol. Its time of flowering is meant to herald the coming of spring. In pre-Christian celebrations the hawthorn (also known as the maythorn) was the original maypole, and so has strong associations with fertility and new life.

Folk tales: just a thing of the past? | Key 2

Folk tales – Key questions

Hawthorn © Andrew Gagg

Often depicted as a face made from leaves and foliage, the green man is also linked to fertility and

re-growth. Green man © Katie Cameron

21. Ways of life were very

different at the time that these tales were first told. Why did stories and beliefs like these come about (eg the need to explain things that we don’t understand, keeping people healthy and safe, methods of controlling or influencing behaviour)?

2. Do these traditional tales and beliefs have any meaning in our modern society? Are they still relevant and do people believe in them?

3. Does the woodland you are in feel magical in any way? Do some places in the woodland feel more magical than others? Can you explain these feelings?

4. We sometimes call modern folklore “urban myths”. What examples of modern folklore can people think of? Are any associated with the natural world or do they tend to focus on other topics? Why is this?

Key idea (do not share the key idea until later in the activity)

Succession is the process by which nature transforms bare rock or bare earth into woodland over a long period of time. Lichens do not need soil in order to grow and can live on bare rock. When they die they produce small quantities of soil which mosses can grow on. As more lichens and mosses grow and die, further soil is produced, allowing small and then larger plants and trees to grow.

Try these activities...

• In groups find examples of the following six woodland features and mark them with a coat, rucksack etc so they can find them again easily (don’t read the list out in this order):

Signs ofsuccession

Signs of succession | Key 3

R O CK W IT H LIC H ENS

S H R U B S

R O CK W I T H M OSS

T R E ES

B A R E R O C K

GR

ASS AN D F L O W E R IN G PLANTS

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Signs of succession – Key questions

Signs of succession | Key 3

Ask groups to make sense of the given features and place them in some kind of order.

Get groups to share their sequences and explain their choices. What is the story here?

Share the concept of natural succession (use A Story of Succession which follows, if it is appropriate for your group).

How exactly do plants become soil? Fungi and small creatures break them down.

Look under a log. Can you find any woodlice? Woodlice and other small invertebrates break down dead plant material.

Can you see any fine white lines in the soil that look like spider webs? These are fungal hyphae (the bit of a fungus that you can’t usually see below the ground). Fungi get energy from breaking down dead plant material.

A woodlouse © Mick Talbot, Non Commercial

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31. What do humans do that can

affect or disrupt this process of natural succession (eg cut down trees, grazing, farming, pollution)?

2. What natural occurrences take place that affect succession (eg deer browsing, storms, floods, fire, diseases such as ash dieback)?

3. What would happen if we stopped managing the landscape around us? Use the landscape you can see as a starting point for this

discussion. What evidence can you see that the land is managed (fences, dry stone walls, pasture, footpaths, coppicing), and how would the land change if this stopped? Would this be a good or bad thing for nature?

4. We all impact upon the people and things around us. How do you impact on your environment and what legacy would you like to leave for the future (eg have you picked up or dropped any litter? Have you helped someone who was in need)?

Signs of succession | Key 3

A story of succession

Long ago the world was ruled by the Rock people and there was no one else. In time tiny living things blew in on the wind and landed like dust on the rocks. Slowly they grew, spreading themselves, flat and grey, across the rocks, whispering all the time “grow, grow”.

Slowly, steadily the Lichen people grew across the rocky landscape needing only the sun and the rain. When the Lichen people became old they made a tiny bit of soil which fell into the cracks in the rock which were made by the ice.

Now was the time for more creatures to arrive and these were bigger and faster moving than the Lichen people, and grew across the soil in a slow green wave. These were the Moss people who chanted “grow faster, grow faster” and shaded out the Lichen people, who moved on to rocks in sunnier spots. When the Moss people grew old and died they became more soil. Then the wind brought seeds which landed upon this soil.

The Grass people were the first to arrive chanting “grow fast day and night to reach the light”. They grew tall and shaded out the Moss people who liked the shade but needed some light. When they died the grasses made more soil which covered the rocks and brought in the trees, small at first but growing larger over time.

These days people visit the woods and walk and camp under the tall trees. They don’t realise that a very long time ago there was nothing here but the rocks and that it needed the smallest of living things, the lichens, followed by mosses and grasses, to enable the tall trees to grow. That was all a very long time ago.

(Concept taken from www.naturestory.com/teachingsciencew.html)

Signs of succession | Key 3

A red tipped Cladonia lichen growing with moss

© Tim Wilkins/Plantlife

Did you know? There are lots of different sorts of Cladonia which have a

wide range of uses, from reindeer fodder through to pharmaceutical products.

Light = life

Light = life | Key 4

Key idea Healthy woodlands contain many more types of plants than just trees and are made up of different plant layers. These layers can tell us whether a woodland is likely to contain a diverse range of plant and animal life.

Try these activities... Invite the group to take a look at the woodland around them.

In addition to the trees, can they identify any other types of plants growing there (eg shrubs like holly or hawthorn, flowering plants, grasses, moss, fungi, climbers like ivy and clematis).

Explain that woodlands are made up of different plant layers.

These layers are:

Canopy (tops of tallest, mature trees)

Understorey (shrubs and saplings)

Field layer (ferns, grasses, wild flowers)

Ground layer (mosses, ivy, fungi)

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41. How would you assess the

health of your woodland based on what you have discussed so far? - All layers are present: woodland

supports a wide range of plant and animal life = healthy woodland

- Canopy layer only: woodland supports only a few animals = unhealthy woodland

2. What impact do you think the types of trees that make up the canopy layer will have on the plants that grow beneath the canopy? (Do all trees let the same amount of light to the ground? Some trees are evergreen or have

very dense, long lasting foliage and what impact will this have?)

3. If a couple of trees in your woodland fell down due to age/wind, what impact would this have on the other plants growing in the woods? (Increase in light at ground level leading to growth at ground, field and shrub layers.)

4. If you are in deciduous woodland, are there times of the year that you are more likely to see lots of plants at the field layer? When would this be? (Spring before leaves come out on the trees.)

Light = life - Key questions

Now ask the group if they can easily identify each of the layers in the woodland you are in. It might not be possible to see all of the layers. For example there may only be a few shrubs or no plants at field layer.

NB: if you are in a conifer plantation or a predominantly beech woodland you will most likely only be able to find a canopy layer or canopy and sparse ground layer due to low light levels. A dense canopy with little light reaching the forest floor will severely inhibit the growth of smaller plants of the understorey, field and ground layers.

Animals use woodlands as places to shelter from predators, rear young and find food. What animal life do they associate with each of the woodland layers? For example birds might nest in the canopy or shrub layer and feed at the ground layer (invertebrates) and shrub layer (berries). What animals can the group think of that are associated with each of the woodland layers?

Light = life | Key 4

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A strangerelationship

A strange relationship | Key 5

Key idea Lichens are extremely complex and sensitive organisms that need very specific environmental conditions in order to be able to reproduce and survive.

Try this activity... Explain what a lichen is (use the key facts at the beginning of this pack)

Lichen reproduction is complicated and can be:

Asexual/vegetative – they produce a clone of themselves, or release into the atmosphere tiny bundles of algal and fungal cells which have the ability to form new lichen.

Sexual – they release fungal spores into the air, which need to find algal spores already existing in the environment in order to form a lichen. There are many hundreds of different fungi that make up lichens and a much smaller number of different algae. In order to reproduce, the correct combination of algal and fungal spores need to meet up on a surface suitable to grow on.

Lecanora muralis © James K. Lindsey

under Creative Commons Attribution

Xanthoria parietina © Tab Tannery, Non Commercial Share

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The round fruiting bodies or ‘jam tarts’ on these lichens release fungal spores into the air.

A strange relationship | Key 5

51. If organisms like lichens

are so sensitive to change around them such as climate change, and changes in light levels, how can we use this to our advantage? (Eg scientific research: how could it be carried out and what could it tell us?)

2. Should we bother to conserve species such as lichens? Does it matter if they die out? What impact would it have if there were no more lichens?

(Lichens are part of the food chain, they provide habitat for other creatures, and are able to colonise new land as they don’t need soil to grow.)

3. Why do we as a society seem to care more about threatened mammals such as pandas and dormice than endangered plants such as juniper and some lichens? How can/should we prioritise species to conserve?

A strange relationship – Key questions

Lichen reproduction – a game of chance.Round 1: A quarter of the group are “trees” and should arrange themselves to make a woodland.The remaining three quarters of the group should become algal or fungal spores at a ratio of three fungi to every alga (or thereabouts). Allocate fungus or alga in secret so that only the individuals know what they are. The spores must blow around on the wind and at a given command must pair up (one alga and one fungus) and find a tree to grow on. Spare spores which couldn’t make a pair will drop to the ground and die.With so many spores dying before meeting partners, how do lichens ensure their survival? They produce many thousands of spores.

Round 2: Rearrange the woodland so that some of the trees are growing very closely together and other trees have more space around them. Use the dead spores from the previous round as extra trees. Reallocate the remaining spores (again in secret and at a ratio of two fungi to every alga) and they must once again blow around on the wind. At the command the spores must find a suitable partner and find a tree to grow on. This time, those that land on the trees in the dense woodland, as well as those who did not find a partner, will die. Those that land on the trees with more space around them will survive. Ask the group why this has happened this time. How have the conditions in the woodland changed and what impact has this had on the lichens? The dense woodland has become very dark and lichens need good levels of sunlight in order to survive.

The shapes of

natureKey idea Living things in nature come in varying forms. Lichens come in a host of shapes, sizes and colours. If we can determine the shape of the lichen, we can begin to identify it.

Try these activities... Explain what a lichen is (use the key facts at the beginning of this pack)

In some Atlantic woodlands in the South West over 300 species of lichen have been recorded. This is too many for most people to learn but we can start to learn how to identify lichens by their shape.

Can you find any of these three lichen shapes growing in the woods?

- Crustose lichens grow along the bark and are attached so closely that you could not separate them from the tree without removing the bark. Often they look like crusty discoloured patches on the trunks of trees but on closer examination they are things of beauty. A white patch might be a script lichen, so called because its fruiting bodies look like writing.

- Foliose lichens, as the name suggests, are leafy in shape. They grow fairly close to the bark and are often one colour on the top surface and a different colour underneath. This lichen is called Flavoparmelia caperata and has a distinctive, bright apple-green colour unlike any other lichens and can be spotted growing on the trunks of trees from some distance.

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Script Lichen © Luke Morton/Plantlife

Flavoparmelia caperata

© Beth Halski/Plantlife

The shapes of nature | Key 6

- Fruticose lichens grow only in the cleanest air. Some of these shrubby lichens are high in vitamin C, although as our bodies aren’t designed to digest lichens, huge quantities would have to be consumed in order to gain any benefit and you would probably end up with a terrible stomach ache. Look on the branches of trees for these lichens, which will either stick up in the air like little shrubs or droop like beards. This beard lichen Usnea florida has the rather unflattering common name: witches’ whiskers.

Now look at a twig or tree trunk. How many different lichens can you spot? Can you see each of the three shapes we have looked at?

crustose = crusty foliose = leafy fruticose = shrubby

The shapes of nature | Key 6

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1. Why do animals and plants in nature come in such a wide variety of shapes and sizes? For example why do we have so many different types of bird? (Plants and animals need to adapt to survive changing environmental conditions such as habitat loss. Some of these changes, in behaviour for example, can happen within a generation, whereas others may take many centuries to take place.)

2. Often attributed to Charles Darwin are the words, “It is not the strongest of the species, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one most adaptable to change.” How have the group adapted to the environment that they are in now (ie woodland) when it is so different to their usual habitat? How has their behaviour changed and what have they needed to bring with them to keep them safe and comfortable?

The shapes of nature – Key questions

Usnea florida © Ray Woods/Plantlife

Quick air quality

check

Quick air quality check | Key 7

Key idea Organisms such as lichens are particularly sensitive and can tell us a lot about the environmental conditions of a place. For example, they can tell us about air quality.

Is the air clean here or is it polluted?

As a general rule shrubby lichens like these (right) will only grow where the air quality is very good. They cannot cope with a polluted atmosphere.

Yellow lichens with these distinctive round fruits (below) need a more polluted atmosphere in order to survive. They are nitrogen loving.

Try these activities... Have a quick look at the branches and trunks of two

trees in the immediate surroundings and note:

- Are there any shrubby lichens growing there?

- Are there any of the yellow lichens?

Come together with your findings and make an assessment of the air quality in this woodland. Can you account for your findings? Why is the air here polluted/clean?

Xanthoria parietina © Tab Tannery, Non Commercial Share

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Usnea florida or witches’ whiskers

© Ray Woods/Plantlife

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Quick air quality check | Key 7

The presence of shrubby lichens

shows that the air quality is good.

© Mary Holland

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1. What will the main sources of air pollution be and can you see any evidence of these sources around you now (eg use of fertilisers in farming, emissions from cars and factories)?

2. How can the knowledge that lichens are indicators of air pollution help scientists and conservationists? How is it useful? (There have been changes in air quality if clean air lichens suddenly die out.)

3. Where the air is currently very clean is there anything that we can do to protect those areas in order to ensure the survival of pollution sensitive species (eg prevent new industry in places of clean air)?

4. Which lichen species would the group expect to see where they live and why?

Quick air quality check – Key questions

Naturalnavigation

Natural navigation | Key 8

Key idea Plants like mosses need particular conditions for growth. They can tell us a huge amount of information about where they are growing and even about the wider environment. They might even help us navigate around a landscape.

Try these activities... Send the group into the woods to find mosses

growing at three locations and make observations about what the conditions are like, for example how warm/cool, how light/dark, how dry/moist it is in the surrounding area. When they are back together, ask the group to describe the conditions that they think mosses need to grow.

Arrange four people into the points of a compass (you can orientate them if you have a compass to hand). Ask the group to describe the conditions that they associate with the north and south compass points.

- Which sides of trees would the group expect the mosses to be growing on?

- Send the group to investigate. Did they find that mosses tend to grow on one particular side of trees?

Investigating moss growing on trees

© Rachel Jones/Plantlife

Orthotrichum affine © Dominic Price/Plantlife

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Natural navigation | Key 8

81. If mosses tend to grow on

the north side of trees where conditions are cooler and damper, could we possibly use this information to guide us if we were lost?

2. Where moss was found growing on sides other than the north, what environmental factors would affect how moist an area was? Eg water run-off from an overhanging branch, water flowing down a slope, evaporation of water from the ground, deep crevices in bark that retain moisture.

3. How reliable is natural navigation and what rules could we come up with that could help to minimise error?

4. What other plants might help us to decide on a path to take in the landscape (eg rushes mean that the ground is very wet, gorse might indicate that the ground is steep)?

Natural navigation – Key questions

Which side of the tree is

moss growing on?

© Beth Newman/Plantlife

Soft rushes © Andrew Gagg/Plantlife

Woodlands and water

management

Woodlands and water management | Key 9

Key idea Flooding has become a major problem in the UK in recent years, especially in the South West. Housing and businesses have been flooded, as has farmed land, and flooding has damaged infrastructure such as roads and railways. Woodlands have been identified as one potential tool in water management.

Try these activities... This activity is best done in an area where there

is a stream. Send small groups to walk around the woodlands and consider all of the places within the woods that water is stored. As a whole group see how many places you can identify for example:

- Within the ground (soil).

- In plants and fungi.

- Root systems, leaves, branches and trunks of trees (per day an oak tree can take up around 50 gallons of water through its roots. On a hot day 100 gallons might be lost through the leaves (transpiration) but on a cold day almost no water will be lost.

- Moss (mosses can absorb up to ten times their weight in water which is like a ten stone person carrying a brown bear).

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Moisture in Atlantic woodlands, Devon

© Juliet Edmunds

Water rushing over mossy rocks

© Matthew O’Connell

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As well as storing water, trees have other beneficial effects on flood management:

- Interception is where water is held on the leaves of trees, branches and the trunks of trees during and after rainfall. This evaporates directly into the atmosphere without getting to ground level.

- Stabilising the ground with roots so that surface water run-off does not carry sediment and exacerbate flooding.

- Slowing the flow of water in a flood situation where woodlands are planted in the riparian area (wet/dry area where a river meets land). Water is quickly absorbed into the ground in a woodland and is slowly taken through the ground to rivers. Water travelling across the top of the ground (eg on concrete) moves much more quickly and can overwhelm streams and rivers.

Can the group see any evidence of flooding in the area (flattened vegetation by the stream, muddy areas, tide line of materials washed up by the stream, silt covered vegetation near to the stream)?

What impact would flooding have in the area you are in at the moment? Think about small floods and larger floods (destruction of vegetation, closing roads and footpaths, loss of habitat for animals).

Woodlands and water management | Key 9

Flooded fields © Gary Tanner, Non Commercial

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Cars driving through

flood water

© Mark Robinson, Non Commercial

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Tractor in floods © Jon Whitton, Non Commercial Share Alike 2.0 Generic

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Venford Brook, Dartmoor© Bernard Linnegar

Woodlands and water management | Key 9

9Woodlands and water management – Key questions

1. If woodland creation could potentially reduce the risk of flooding, why not plant lots of woodlands around rivers and their floodplains? (Conflict with landowners; land might be used for other purposes already, such as housing and farming; cost of planting and managing woods.)

2. What barriers might there be to mass scale woodland creation? (Financial, political, community opposition.)

3. Who might it impact upon and how? (Residents of an area, farmers, landowners, businesses.)

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Design by torchdesign.co.uk

The Make the Small Things Count project is celebrating the

important Atlantic woodlands of the South West and the lichens,

ferns and mosses that grow there. This project has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund

with financial support from the Exmoor National Park Partnership

Fund, Dartmoor National Park Authority, North Devon Coast

AONB and Quantock Hills AONB.

Thank you to all our “Wonders of the South West’s Woodlands” photo

competiton entrants whose photos have helped enhance this resource.

Front cover image © Amelia Vanstone