Leafy London gets official 'forest' status

[xchrom]

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/leafy-london-gets-official-forest-status-656045.html

It's official. The nation's newest, officially recognised forest is – London.

Tomorrow the Forestry Commission will get its first chief for the capital, which it describes as "the largest urban forest in the world".

The appointment marks a dramatic shift for the commission – best known for planting vast blankets of conifers over the Scottish Highlands – towards promoting smaller woodlands near where people live.

London is already remarkably heavily wooded. The commission says that there are some 65,000 woodlands and stands of trees in the city, covering over 17,500 acres, just under a fifth of the entire area of Greater London. Over 12,000 acres of this is made up of sizeable woods of at least 22 acres. And two-thirds of it is registered as ancient woodland, suggesting that it is part of the original forest which once covered the country.

[marmar]

1. It is amazing that such a crowded city has so much parkland....

[xchrom]

2. it's just one of the things i love about london -- all the trees.

that -- and oh my god -- how young london is.

paris is my fav -- but london has major youthful energy.

[marmar]

5. Agree.....Love them both, but there's only one........

[xchrom]

6. sigh. heaven -- heaven on earth. nt

[Davis_X_Machina]

7. Londinium...

...fortasse urbs 'iuvenis', vix 'nova' habērī potest.

[enlightenment]

4. I wonder if Sheffield has been given urban forest status?

They are one of the 'greenest' cities in England . . .

Huzzah for London, though. The greens and parks are the salvation of the city - there's always a spot where you can escape the hustle and bustle for a few minutes of respite!

[dipsydoodle]

3. Some of the "ancient woodlands" bit

may well refer to the "Royal Parks" which are managed by the Greater London Authority - Hyde Park , Regents Park, St James Park , Richmond Park , Bushy Park etc some of which have deer too. There are also the large open spaces like Hampstead Heath.

Good to hear anyway. Thanks for posting.

[jberryhill]

8. Had it not been for the monarchs keeping out commoners

...the parks would have been overrun long ago.

[starroute]

9. Aristocracies are occasionally good for something

I'm not sure it balances out against the oppression, but their patronage of art, architecture, landscape design, music, science, technology and so forth has to be acknowledged as something in their favor.

[dipsydoodle]

12. Well we did have a headstart

c. 1520 in fact. :)

[14thColony]

10. I live 5 minutes from Hampstead Heath

Just spent the whole weekend there with my daughters. Still amazes me there are places in HH from which you can't see a single building in any direction. You'd think you were in the remote countryside, not in the middle of one of the largest and most populous cities in the world. I like HH exactly because it's a heath and not a park - the vast majority of it is left wild, with no attempts to landscape it.

[dipsydoodle]

11. Great place

Must confess I prefered the Whitestone Pond on the edge as it was though - looks out of place now.

[14thColony]

14. I live down towards Gospel Oak end

So I've not made it to that side of the heath yet. Amazing how big the place is.

[binarysunrise]

13. Forest Fires?

How wooded can a city get before it has to be concerned about forest fires?

[dipsydoodle]

15. Its not dense woodland

apart from which this refers to Greater London - not the City.