Forestry England Update June 2026 CP

Engagement activities

Fire safety

• Amber warnings of wildfire risk
• Joint patrols with fire service volunteers
• Monitoring use of fire/BBQ

Community Engagement

• Guided community walks
• Bolderwood Cabin open
• Dog Owners engagement session with NFDOG
• Fly-tip Ops with NFDC & Police at Lyndhurst and Crockford

Expanded ranger team

Parking ranger team

• Recruitment and onboarding complete
• Team of 12 rangers now all in post
• Working closely with existing ranger team and other operational staff.
• Offers a boost to our ability to engage with the public beyond enforcement
• Litter picking – collecting on average up to 12 bags of rubbish a week.
• Verge parking education and stickers
• PSPO enforcement - NFDC have provided training for an initial group from this team to support when these are renewed in July

Car Parking

Went live on 20 April

• Charging now live in all 129 car parks

Positive response to membership

• Highly discounted parking charges - £1.85 a week
• Positive support for the New Forest
• Ongoing community to engage and communicate with

Common questions

• Ways to pay
  • RingGo is one options in a range of ways to pay
  • Transferrable tickets from pay machines at 16 locations
  • Phone-line
  • Payment via a button on our website
  • Membership
  • Parking Information | Forestry England
• New page for accessibility
  https://www.forestryengland.uk/new-forest/access-information

Car Park Repairs

• Investment in new team & machinery
• Active programme of repairs now underway
  • Tarmac around key entrances from the highways – cost over £200k
  • Surface repairs carried out at 55 car parks since the start of Feb
• Keeping the public updated
  https://www.forestryengland.uk/new-forest/where-we-are-working

Habitat Restoration

Record heathland restoration this winter

• 50 hectares of inclosures returned to open habitat
• Nearly one fifth of our commitment to this in the current 10-year Forest Design Plan.
• HLS projects
  • Dames Slough, Highland Water, Woosons Hill, Milkham, North Slufters, Fawley
• Additional projects
  • Roe, Coppice of Linwood, Fletcher Hill, Denny.

Wetland Restoration

• Ongoing programme delivered over the last 15 years
• Restoring original water courses, bogs and mire systems
• In the last 3 years restoration has been carried out at:
  • Picket Mire
  • Penny moor
  • Furzey Lodge
  • Anses Wood
  • Ravensnest
  • Hawkhill Lodge
  • North Slufters

Wetland Restoration

• Monitoring long-term benefits – geomorphological surveys, fixed point photography, vegetation surveys before & after.
• Findings so far…
  • Holding more water on the forest
  • Benefitting key species of plant and aquatic life
  • Creating more - and connected - habitats for species that rely on wet areas including wading birds
  • Slowing the flow and reducing flooding further downstream

Wetland Restoration

• Plan to boost our work in this area.
• Further sites identified for later this year….
  • Knightwood
  • Ipley
  • North Slufters
  • Fawley
  • Roe
  • Coppice of Linwood/Salisbury Trench

Volunteer activity

Volunteering for conservation

• Recognised the amazing volunteer work this year for National Volunteer Week
• Kings Copse - coppicing ride side birch & willow to keep rides & glades open and improve habitat for butterflies and specifically the White Admiral.
• Holmsley - widening of rides using hand tools to enable access for butterfly recorders on official transects
• Brick Kilns - cut birch and pine, drag in and clear off banks to allow more light to the forest floor and help promote growth of flora

New exhibition

• We are supporting a new exhibition at the New Forest Heritage Centre opening on 3 July.
• Celebrating one of the most overlooked chapters of WW2 – the Women's Timber Corp or "Lumberjills"
• Discover how these incredible women supported the war effort in the New Forest and how they paved the way for women in the forestry sector today
• Many personal stories and testimonies are included