National Forest Programme Workshop

Following The First Minister Mark Drakeford announced his intention to develop a National Forest for Wales in his manifesto commitments in 2018.  He officially launched the National Forest Programme on 12 March 2020.  Together with Minister for Environment Energy and Rural Affairs Lesley Griffiths he described an ambition for a National Forest that extends the length and breadth of Wales and announced that an extensive engagement period would commence so that creating a National Forest for Wales will be ‘…a collective effort with government, business and communities all working towards a shared goal’.

The press release can be found by following this link: National Forest Launch.

The Virtual Workshop took place to help understand individual stakeholder views and the views of relevant organisations relating to the development of a National Forest in Wales.  The Workshop enabled stakeholders to contribute their perspective and ideas to help create a National Forest that will not only promote tree planting and proactive management of new and existing woodland in Wales and provide opportunities for traditional and innovative economic activity, but will also connect people to the trees and woods around them and provide habitats for nature.   
To achieve this ambition it was essential that that proposals and plans be developed for A National Forest that works for everyone.  

Event Highlights

The Workshop saw 51 delegates take part in the virtual workshop on 3 September with excellent interaction form the audience.

The National Forest Programme was outlined for delegates and some interesting comments and questions were raised.  Some key observations were fed back which will be useful going forward, these included – 

• Should 'More woodlands' be an outcome?
• Should improved biodiversity be in there as an outcome?
• Are we including hedgerows, street trees and orchards as part of the Urban Forest?

All questions and comments from the Microsoft Teams ‘Chat will be collated and used going forward.

Two Breakout Sessions took place during the Workshop and delegates were split into groups to discuss – 

• National Forest Outcomes
• Branding Concept

Following each session, feedback and questions were fed back to all delegates with some very useful topics, queries and suggestions raised.

An additional Workshop to re-engage with key stakeholders is being planned for early October.

Agenda (National Forest Programme Webinar 03/09/20) 

Presentation:

National Forest Branding Concepts – Anna Taylor - Jarvis Lead designer; Carys Bryant Marketing Manager: Jamjar.  

National Forest Branding - Toolkit 1 – Poster (A3 Poster)
National Forest Branding - Toolkit 1 – Leaflet (A5 Leaflet)