Trees and Drought on Lowland England

Pressure to increase forest cover in the UK has been steadily mounting in the last decade, as evinced in the 1995 Rural England White Paper. Woodlands are important because of their timber production, habitat provision and amenity, but the UK has relatively little of its land given over to forestry (just 9-10%, compared with about 25% in many other European countries). However, there are problems with planting trees in a densely populated nation such as England. Particular concern has been expressed over the possible effects on water resources.

The Department of Geography has been awarded a number of grants by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR, now Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, DEFRA) to assess potential impacts on water resources of proposed afforestation. Begun in 1998, the work - led by Professor Ian Reid, Professor Ian Calder (University of Newcastle), Professor Adrian Armstrong (ADAS) and Dr Tom Nisbet (Forestry Commission) - involves field experiments to assess rainfall, soil moisture, evaporation and drainage under four types of vegetation cover: broadleaf woodland, coniferous trees, heath and grass pasture.

The findings will assist evaluation of many possible land use planning scenarios.

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