ASSESSING NATURE CONSERVATION VALUES IN BRITISH WOODLAND—A REVIEW OF RECENT PRACTICE

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Abstract
The value of a wood for nature conservation depends on the objectives that are set for nature conservation. These may differ from one group of people to another. However, a general objective set by the Nature Conservancy Council in 1991 is taken as the starting point—that “wildlife communities characteristic of the various regions of Great Britain should remain viable and distributed across their traditional ranges”. This approach may then be focused on to three aspects: Different woods contribute to varying degrees to these different aspects in ways that are affected by both their regional and their historical contexts. The philosophy behind assessment of individual sites was explored in the Nature Conservation Review, and ten “criteria” were proposed—size, naturalness, rarity, fragility, diversity, typicality/representativeness, ecological/geographical position, recorded history potential value and intrinsic appeal. Various “field” measures were devised as measures of these different “criteria”. Subsequent developments have concentrated mainly on improving our knowledge of the overall woodland resource and hence of the context of individual sites, for example through the Ancient Woodland Inventory and Invertebrate Site Register. Several woodland classifications have been used to ensure that a “representative” selection of woods is included in any list of important sites. The National Vegetation Classification will be used as part of this process in future.