Managed Woodland Performance Indicator: England 2014 and 2020

England's Forestry Commission tracks the percentage of woodland under active management as a corporate performance indicator. The dataset's definition of 'actively managed' is based on administrative records from multiple grant schemes, felling licenses, and public estate land. Sources from 2014 and 2020 show differing time thresholds for considering grants as active, indicating an evolving methodology.

Use Cases

• Tracking progress towards national woodland management targets based on grant scheme participation.
• Analyzing the spatial distribution of managed vs. unmanaged woodland for conservation planning.
• Comparing the scope and impact of different woodland grant schemes (e.g., EWGS, FWPS, WGS3).
• Evaluating changes in management indicator definitions and thresholds over time.

Strengths

• Definition of 'active management' is explicitly detailed across 8-10 specific administrative criteria.
• Cross-platform presence on UK and EU open data portals signals official importance and accessibility.
• Provides a clear performance metric tied to the Forestry Commission's corporate plan.

Limitations

• Sources conflict on key parameters: the 2014 source uses 5-30 year thresholds for different grants, while the 2020 source uses a consistent 15-year threshold.
• Metadata is sparse: column names, row counts, and specific license information are not provided.
• The methodology explicitly excludes some woodland areas and grant types (e.g., EWGS Woodland Assessment Grant), potentially undercounting managed land.

Provenance

Source

Forestry Commission (United Kingdom)

Collection Method

Aggregated from administrative records of grant schemes, felling licenses, and public estate management.

Time Range

Data reflects snapshots as of 31 March 2014 and 31 March 2020.

Freshness

2026-06-29 22:10:09.029376

Geography

England