PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday 17th July 2025

Huge show of public support comes after it was revealed that Government targets to restore native forest will be delivered 81 years late unless urgent action is taken

A petition calling on Forestry England to fulfil its commitment to bring back the nation’s “ghost woods” – ancient woodland sites felled and replaced by timber plantations in the 20th century – has been signed by 100,000 members of the public. The milestone has been reached less than three weeks after the launch of the petition, which is backed by Oscar-winning actress and nature-lover Dame Judi Dench.

The swell of support follows an investigation by grassroots campaign group Wild Card, that found that Forestry England (the body responsible for managing and promoting publicly owned forests in England) is so far behind on government woodland restoration targets that it is set to meet them more than 80 years¹ later than promised.

Though committed to restoring the 100,000 acres of land under their management, Forestry England’s slow progress means that the remaining fragments of ancient woodlands, smothered under their fast-growing timber plantations, will disappear if urgent action isn’t taken.

Poppy Silk, Campaigner at Wild Card, said: “The public have spoken, they are sending a clear message that England’s Ghost Woods must be brought back to life before it’s too late. Along with more than 100,000 people that have signed the petition so far, we have seen the public turn out across the country to call on their local Forestry England officers to fulfil their promise.

“We know that Forestry England needs greater support from DEFRA to turn their sterile plantations into woodlands teeming with life. DEFRA now needs to heed the wishes of people across the country and provide the financial backing that is needed.”

Last week Wild Card joined forces with environmentalists including Youngwilders and author James Canton, to host a series of “ghost hunt” events in forests and plantations from Cornwall to Yorkshire. Driven by the passion of local groups for their ancient woodlands, the gatherings sought to raise awareness of the suppression of our ancient forests and call on local Forestry England officers to accelerate their restoration. 

Wild Card teamed up with Dame Judi Dench and people-powered campaign group 38 Degrees to launch the petition less than three weeks ago.  Matthew McGregor, CEO  at 38 Degrees, said: “This 38 Degrees petition has galvanised over a hundred thousand members of the public so quickly because it is an issue which so many of us can relate to:  they care deeply about their local green spaces and woodlands. 38 Degrees is proud to help people demand a safer, greener, clean environment for communities all across the UK.”

The call follows an alarming new report from the Woodland Trust, which found that woodland biodiversity is continuing to decline and that only 9% of England’s forests are in a favourable condition. As one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, restoring ancient woodland, which supports more biodiversity than any other land-based habitat in the UK, has never been so critical.

In 2022, DEFRA set a new national target to restore or start the restoration of the majority of ancient woodlands covered with plantations by 2030, following a missed initial target of 2020. However, according to detailed analysis published by Wild Card, at the current rate of progress Forestry England won’t be able to deliver on this target until 2111, over 80 years late. 

The campaigners acknowledge that whilst restoration is best done sensitively over many years, native species are running out of time. Historic delays and failures mean that there is now an urgent need to start restoring all of their plantations before it is too late. Wild Card argues that the agency needs to publish clear data on what is already being done, and a fully funded detailed plan on how this will be achieved, which allows their progress to be held publicly accountable. If reached, an area of native forest the size of the Isle of Wight could be created².

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FOOTNOTES

¹ The 2030 target set out in Keepers of Time states that DEFRA aims to: “restore or gradually restore the majority of plantations on ancient woodland sites to native woodland”. Forestry England do not release data showing how much of their Plantations on Ancient Woodlands (PAWS) are in restoration, instead they use the Natural Capital Account data to demonstrate to the public how quickly they are moving to protect our ancient woodlands. As such, whilst it is not possible to track each hectare individually, it is possible to extrapolate the speed at which hectares are moving between Semi-Natural Scores (the percentage of the woodland that is native tree species). Between 2013/14 and 2022/23, (the earliest data available) the data suggests that Forestry England have restored  2,484ha, or 5.8% of the public forest estate plantations on ancient woodlands (PAWS). They have started to gradually restore 3,553ha, or 10.5% of the public forest estate PAWS (not including the 9,066ha that were already restored in the 2013/14 baseline). In 2022/23, 20,601ha (48% of the PAWS estate), remained at less than 20% native tree cover. Whilst it is possible that Forestry England may have started restoring these areas (and the removal of a single conifer could be considered justification for saying so), there is no publicly available data to show this and therefore no way to verify their claims. 

At the current rate of progress (5.8% over a decade) it will take 86 years to bring all the PAWs into gradual restoration, 81 years later than the 2030 target and a further 123 years from now to restore all of the Forestry England PAWS. Forestry England have themselves acknowledged on their website, “We’ve got a long way to go, and in the midst of a nature crisis, we need to move faster.” You can read Wild Card’s detailed analysis in their new report “Lost in the Woods: How Forestry England Fell a Century Behind on Ancient Woodland Restoration Targets”.

² The Isle of Wight measures 94,000 acres. Forestry England has 105,000 of PAWS.

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NOTES TO EDITORS

IMAGES ARE AVAILABLE HERE

View the petition here.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Heather Carswell: press@wildcard.land / 07815 741183

Kate Wilsea: press@38degrees.org.uk / 07970 237188

ABOUT WILD CARD

Wild Card is a citizens’ movement campaigning for the UK’s biggest landowners to urgently rewild their lands in response to the climate and nature emergency. With over 250,000 people supporting their campaigns to date they have already claimed successes in persuading the royal estates and other landowners to begin ambitious nature restoration schemes. Discover more about the campaign to rewild the Ghost Woods here. 

ABOUT 38 DEGREES

38 Degrees is a community of a million people who – in a moment away from their busy days – take small actions on issues they care about, which all add up to something bigger, a movement for a better Britain for everyone who calls our country home. 

Whether it’s the grieving wife who forced the Government to review betting laws after the tragic loss of her husband to gambling-related suicide, or 1.2 million of us who forced Post Office boss Paula Vennells to hand back her CBE, every time we win, we move our country a step towards the fairer, more sustainable place we’re fighting for, where we are treated – and treat each other – with respect.