Madam,

Your readers will doubtless have been interested to hear the thoughts of Aled Roberts on plans by the Woodland Trust and Wales Wild Land Foundation to restore native woodland and other habitats at Cefn Coch, Glaspwll. Hundreds of our members and supporters were inspired by the vision, giving generously to make it possible.

But we cannot agree with Mr Roberts’ implication that any change in land use is an insult to those who have farmed the land in the past. Land use has continually changed over the centuries and decades, with new crops and techniques being introduced. Indeed, many farmers work with the Woodland Trust to create new woodland on their land, recognising the benefits trees can offer as part of a resilient and viable farmed landscape.

It is true that the Woodland Trust was asked during the campaign to take down images from its website as land belonging to another landowner was visible. Keen to be a good neighbour, we willingly agreed. The challenge is of course that this is a landscape scale project, and it is difficult to capture images of landscape without some neighbouring land.

We ran our appeal using the name Cefn Coch, by which the land was offered for sale. We are now considering changing the name to Bwlch Corog to save confusion with the neighbouring properties.

For WWLF and the Woodland Trust, it was always important that this land had not been grazed for some six years, so we would not be taking it out of agriculture. This was what we meant by ‘neglected’. Mr Roberts may be pleased to hear that we do intend to re-introduce some grazing. What we hope to achieve is not dense woodland across the site, but a patchwork of different habitats, with maybe one third becoming open, deciduous woodland, including oak, birch and rowan. This means we will maintain some open habitat of value to ground nesting birds and overall aim to support a range of species across the site from curlew to red squirrels. If nothing is done, there is a risk that sitka spruce from neighbouring plantations will encroach on the site, degrading it ecologically.

We hope that everyone is proud of our wildlife here in Wales and concerned about the steady decline of so many species over the last few decades. Our project aims to tackle this issue, supporting wildlife and contributing to the economic and social well-being of local people.

And while the Woodland Trust works across the UK, including Wales, WWLF is a local charity, established in mid Wales by and for local people.

The Woodland Trust and WWLF have also made clear we are not offering this project as a blueprint for the rest of upland Wales. But leaving the EU creates uncertainty over the future of land use in Wales. So surely it makes sense at least to trial alternative approaches, to see what social, environment and economic benefits they offer, particularly on land like this which is of low agricultural value.

Yours etc

Simon Ayres, chair of Wales Wild Land Foundation; Rory Francis, communications and engagement manager, Woodland Trust.

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