About us

We believe forests enhance people’s quality of life by providing places to enjoy watching wildlife, walking, riding bikes or horses and playing among the trees. By opening up access to the nation's forests through our Active Forests programme, we contribute to the wellbeing of the nation.

As well as health benefits, our woodlands make significant contributions to local economies around the country. The 226 million visits we get per year support over 80 private businesses across England. They deliver our Forest Centre services including bike hire, cafes and action-packed adventures through Go Ape.

Throughout summer, seven of our most popular sites are transformed into concert arenas for our Forest Live series. Since 2001, our forests have played host to an eclectic mix of artists, from Massive Attack to Jessie J and Blondie.

Our woodlands provide inspiration for contemporary artists who respond to these environments in different ways. Forest Art Works offers up new ways to interact with our forests through sculpture, music, photography and digital art.

We bring people and communities together, encouraging them to become involved with their local forests and woodlands.

We support a growing number of volunteers who work with us to help with maintenance, conservation, monitoring wildlife and more. 

As well as providing interest and enjoyment for visitors, wildlife contributes to healthy natural ecosystems. Our woodlands are some of the best places to spot wildlife from large mammals such as deer, to some of the smaller inhabitants such as bats, dormice, butterflies and red squirrels.

We are one of the largest managers of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in England, which are home to some of the country’s rarest wildlife. The land we manage provides homes for wildlife in moors, heathlands, bogs as well as forests and woodlands.  

Some of our best-loved wildlife depends on our careful and sustained land management for its survival and we provide resilient landscapes where it can thrive.

We are planting an ever more diverse range of tree species grown from carefully selected seeds that are better able to cope with our changing climate.

This ensures they will continue to provide healthy habitats that continue to thrive for generations to come. By planting a range of species, we are also able to increase the availability of different types of food and nectars available to wildlife.

Each part of the land is a potential home for wildlife. For example brambles can be an excellent source of food for butterflies and bees, birds and small mammals, while also making great places for birds to nest.

Dead wood and dying trees can provide homes for bats, fungi, lichens and mosses, and birds and insects can find homes in hollow trees. 

To find out more about how we manage your local woodlands for wildlife, have a look at our forest plans.

Although we receive some money from government, we generate most of our revenue ourselves by sustainably harvesting and selling timber, and by working with commercial partners to offer new ways to experience and enjoy our woodlands and develop business activities. All the income we generate goes back into managing our forests.

We are the largest supplier of sustainably produced timber in England, selling around 1.3 million tonnes per year. This enables us to support the wider British timber and forestry industry, and work with hundreds of contracting businesses, sawmills and factories that rely on a year-round supply of wood to maintain employment and investment in the industry.

For decades sustainability has been at the heart of how we manage our forests and harvest our timber. We work to stringent standards to supply responsibly produced wood. We are the first state forest organisation in the world to receive the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) accreditation. Our timber is also certified by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).

Forestry England is a key partner of Grown in Britain, an initiative aimed at promoting the benefits of using British grown timber in the UK, in support of local economies, people and wildlife.

We cannot rely solely on our timber for revenue. To ensure we are less reliant on support from the government and have diverse sources of income to sustain our activities, we also work with commercial partners. We play a key role in supporting businesses and local economies around the country. Across the nation's forests we support over 640 private businesses through our cafes, shops, recreational, woodland and estate management.

We also generate additional income from other parts of the nation's forests. This can include mineral production from our sites or letting land and buildings for residential or commercial use. These partnerships allow us to offer different ways of experiencing the nation's forests and generating additional income.