In Spring 2006 a project to revitalise Bedgebury Forest in Kent was completed. The site houses the National Pinetum – a world-class collection of conifers and centre for the conservation of rare and endangered species. A £1 million grant from Sport England paid for the creation of mountain and family biking trails and all-ability walking and wheelchair routes. The grant also provided funds for a new visitor centre. A new woodchip boiler provides sustainable energy for the centre and the timber building uses cavity wall insulation to reduce heat loss.
Home-grown coppiced chestnut from Bedgebury is being put to good use – it is chipped and used as fuel for the new woodchip boiler which provides our heating and hot water. This is one of 10 woodfuel heating systems used at Forestry Commission sites designed to help reduce our carbon emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. The woodchip boiler also helps to combat climate change by using wood waste from the site to fuel the boiler – thus reducing transport miles.
As well as mitigating climate change at Bedgebury, our staff are also studying its effects. Researchers at the Pinetum are exploring how temperature and other climate changes are affecting the tree species that are able to grow in the UK. For example by attempting to grow sub-tropical trees that were unable to grow here 50 or even 10 years ago. Monitoring these trials helps scientists to assess the impacts of climate change.
The future
The new Top Lodge at Fineshade Woods visitor facility, near Corby, will open in 2007. The £1 million development will be the flagship of a major countryside restoration project in Northamptonshire. The development will do its bit to combat climate change with an efficient, ‘carbon-neutral’ woodchip heating system. The building also features other ‘green’ technology, including a natural reed bed sewage filtration system.