Forestry England's founding biodiversity corporate partner

Forest news

22/06/23

We’ve recently become Forestry England’s founding biodiversity corporate partner. Together, we want to create a step-change for nature recovery in Kielder Forest. With the support of partners like us, Forestry England can deliver landscape-scale nature recovery points. The aim is to rebuild biodiversity by restoring natural processes, and we're proud that our partnership can be a real force for good. 

Forestry England and Forest Holidays have joined forces to improve biodiversity in Kielder Forest in Northumberland, paving the way for new conservation work to restore natural processes so that wildlife can thrive and expand.

It’s important to track how the biodiversity will change over time so the partnership has already taken some samples of eDNA to analyse. Using innovative environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding technology will give a vital baseline dataset on the wildlife already in the forest ecosystem.
The results of the Forest Holidays funded eDNA sampling will inform Forestry England’s decisions on which activities will best improve biodiversity at Kielder.

Kevin May, Forestry England Director, said:

“We are delighted to have Forest Holidays as our first major biodiversity corporate partner, with their support over the next five years helping us unlock some incredibly useful information about the range of wildlife species already present in Kielder Forest. This will in turn guide our work to increase the range and number of species and create a rich and diverse, fully functioning ecosystem across this vast landscape in support of nature recovery.

“The significant investment Forest Holidays are making in our science-led approach to improve biodiversity means we can be truly innovative in creating a step change for this important landscape. The nature recovery interventions we make must be tailored to each forest and the precise information the eDNA analysis will give us, will help us get this right for Kielder Forest and ensure it remains a science led, wildlife-rich example of modern forestry into the future.”

Andrew Brook, Forest Holidays Director, said: 

“Our business is intrinsically linked to Forestry England’s conservation work through our long-standing partnership of 50 years. As their trusted partner, we are stewards of 244.5 Hectares of forest which we carefully manage to provide wildlife rich habitats that benefit our forests, customers, and the planet.

Our two organisations share a sustainable vision for the nation’s forests and our work extends beyond our cabin locations. Our support gives Forestry England the ability to deliver landscape-scale nature recovery projects, explore opportunities to revolutionise the way we think about forest ecosystems and create a step change for wildlife in this country. We’re excited to embark on this journey and watch the landscape evolve through this project.”