The UK government is planning a massive sell off of their publicly owned, ancient forests. Around two-thirds of the UK woodlands are privately owned already. The remaining 33% is publicly owned, managed by the Forestry Commission (FC) and other public agencies.
National treasures like the The Forest of Dean, Sherwood Forest and The New Forest could be sold off. Once they are gone, they will be lost forever.
from save our woods credit: Pablo - Woodlife
The UK public is widely against this and they have started a group called 'Save Our Woods' and a petition drive to force the government to rethink its plans. If they can prove how strongly the public is against this, then maybe the gov't will back down.
Since some of my readers are from the UK I thought I should publicize this...so go to this site ( click on 'save our woods') and check it out:
from Save Our Woods
This is what they write in their site:
We believe our trees, woods and forests are too important to be sold to the highest bidder.
We believe our woodlands and forests play an essential part in the biodiversity of our country.
We believe our forests are our natural heritage and it is in the public’s greatest interest for them to remain under public ownership.
and I believe forests make us happy -
this great photo was taken by Jason Smalley of a blogger called widely creative
If you feel the same way and are from the UK – sign the 38 Degrees petition below and find out how to contact your MP.
from save our woods
I'm not from the UK and therefore unable to sign your petition but; I hope that your government can see the importance of saving the forest. Like you said, once they're gone they're gone. It reminds me of the old Sonny and Cher song lyrics, "they took paradise and put up a parking lot". I hope that doesn't happen in your neck of the woods.
ReplyDeleteI concur! wish I could sign it...(wasn't it Joni Mitchell?)
ReplyDeletePublic pressure worked!
ReplyDeleteThe UK government has reversed it's decision about the forestry sell-off:
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/spelmans-forest-uturn-we-got-this-one-wrong-2218382.html
YAY!!! one small step for man , one giant step for the future of woodlands
ReplyDelete"They took paradise" isn't a Sonny & Cher song; it's a Joni Mitchell song.
ReplyDeleteright - she wrote it after visiting Hawaii in the 70's...I lived there then and remember watching them pave paradise.
ReplyDelete