Creating a resilient woodland at Lowther
Estate

The Lowther Estate in Cumbria worked with partners including the Forestry Commission, Natural England and the Eden Rivers Trust to bring to fruition a new large scale productive woodland in the North West of England.

In 2017 Lowther Estate gained approval for 170 hectares of new productive woodland, ‘Jacks Wood’, named after the estate’s recently retired forester, Ian Jack, who led the development of the project.

The new woodland is largely within the Lake District National Park and has seen the planting of 121 ha of productive conifer, with the remainder made up of predominantly productive broadleaves. In total, 213,098 trees have been planted, making this one of the largest areas of productive conifer to be planted in England since the 1980’s.

Lowther Estates used the Woodland Creation Planning Grant to help cover the planning and design costs for the new woodland. The estate also received approval for funding under the Countryside Stewardship scheme for the planting and maintenance of the woodland.

David Bliss, Estate Manager for Lowther Estate said:

"Our success is entirely down to the work of Ian Jack. The Woodland Creation Planning Grant funding helped him plan and gain approval for this magnificent commercial woodland, which will support many local jobs and associated forestry businesses."