16 February 2011

The fragile recovery of some of our most threatened butterflies and moths may be put at risk by the proposed sell-off of the entire Forestry Commission Estate.

This conclusion has been reached by Butterfly Conservation, the largest insect conservation charity in the UK, which is urging government to re-think its proposal to sell off or lease the entire Estate.

Having examined the proposals in detail and listened to the strong groundswell of opinions amongst its members, the charity believes that the likely risks to biodiversity, in particular butterflies and moths, far outweigh any potential benefits. It believes that the proposals are a serious threat to existing joint conservation programmes that are beginning to halt the rapid decline of woodland butterflies on Forestry Commission land. Butterfly Conservation also believes that the proposals will make it far more difficult to take a strategic landscape scale approach in the future, as has been urged by Sir John Lawton in his recent report Making Space for Nature, which is thought to be central to the forthcoming Natural Environment White Paper.

Butterflies and moths are one of the most rapidly declining wildlife groups, with woodland species under particular pressure. Their severe declines are due to a general lack of woodland management, which allowed open spaces used for breeding to grow over, and the replanting of ancient woodland and heathland with conifers.

Butterfly Conservation believes that any future reforms should focus on correcting these past errors regardless of ownership. However, it believes that they would be far easier to reform via a single body.

Butterfly Conservation and its large band of volunteers are involved in many conservation projects on Forestry Commission land that could act as models of how to achieve the Government’s Big Society agenda. A good example is the Back to Orange project in the Wyre Forest, which involves many local community groups and has reversed the decline of one of the UK’s most threatened species, the Pearl-bordered Fritillary.

Dr Martin Warren, Chief Executive of Butterfly Conservation, said: “We have invested a great deal of time and resources into building conservation programmes with the Forestry Commission, and now have a joint strategy to reverse the decline of butterflies on 140 top sites. If this land was fragmented into multiple ownerships, many of these biodiversity gains could be lost and an effective landscape scale approach would be far more difficult to pursue. We know that the Commission has had a mixed record on conserving biodiversity in the past, but many positive policies are now in place and their local teams are enthusiastic about involving local groups.”

Butterflies and moths are highly sensitive to changes in management and will be important indicators of the success of biodiversity measures under any new arrangements. Butterfly Conservation remains positive that other creative ways can be found to involve local community groups in the future of Forestry Commission land, such as that in the Wyre Forest. In light of today’s comment by the Prime Minister, the organisation very much hopes that the government do rethink the proposal.

Read more about Butterfly Conservation's position on the Forestry Commission consultation