View image in fullscreen ‘The new project will span three counties and the city of Bristol.’ Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA The benefits for bats were presumably not at the top of the government’s list of reasons for announcing the creation of the new western forest. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, regards rules that protect these nocturnal mammals as a nuisance . Nevertheless, the rare Bechstein’s bat , as well as the pine marten and various fungi, are expected to be among species that benefit from the multiyear project, to which central government has so far committed £7.5m. Like England’s only existing national forest , in the Midlands, this one will be broken up across a wide area, featuring grassland, farmland, towns and villages as well as densely planted, closed-canopy woodland. John Everitt, who heads the National Forest organisation (which is both a charity and a government arm’s length body), describes this type of landscape as “forest in the medieval sense with a mosaic of habitats”. Stretching from Gloucester in the north to Salisbury in the south and Weston-super-Mare in the west, the new project will span three counties and the city of Bristol. The aim is to combine the environmental benefits of tree planting with social and economic gains, such as new opportunities for tourism and leisure. Unlike in the Midlands, where the forest was established in a post-industrial landscape scarred by mining and clay pits, the western forest includes prime agricultural land. This means that while the Midlands is the model, this is in some ways a very different scheme. The hope is that it will demonstrate how forestry and agriculture can be combined – and counteract the view held in some rural communities that tree planting is anti-farming. The UK is underforested relative to the rest of Europe, and […]