Change outdated laws to prevent forest felling when baby animals are in nests

Under the 1967 Forestry Act licences to fell woodland cannot include enforceable conditions to safeguard our rarest wildlife such as red squirrels, bats, dormice.

https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/red-squirrels-rare-woodland-wildlife-british-outdated-tree-felling-a8665491.html

Woodlands are routinely clear-felled or left with only a few trees containing squirrel nests. There is always a risk that young animals are either shredded or crushed by such felling.

The public want ethically harvested timber so felling licences need enforceable conditions to protect wildlife. The Government should amend Forestry legislation so this is the case in England, as it already is in Scotland.

The Government responded to a petition on a similar issue on 29 January 2019.

Forestry is a devolved matter; in England the control of tree felling is the responsibility of the Forestry Commissioners under their powers in Part II of the Forestry Act 1967 (as amended). In most circumstances a landowner will require a felling licence from the Forestry Commission before they can legally fell their trees. When considering a felling licence application, the Forestry Commission will judge the proposals against the UK Forestry Standard: the Government’s approach to sustainable forestry. This Standard encompasses the impacts on biodiversity and recognises the importance of priority habitats and species, including red squirrels, bats and dormice. Those applying for a felling licence are therefore required to provide evidence of how they propose to manage the impact of felling on wildlife. The Forestry Commission checks all applications against a large number of records, including Red Squirrel Reserves. This allows the Forestry Commission to highlight any potential issues and advise the applicant how to avoid the disturbance or damage of protected species. All felling licences are also issued with a European Protected Species checklist, which provides further guidance to applicants about their duties in relation to species such as dormice and bats.

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes it an offence to intentionally kill, injure or disturb a protected species or intentionally or recklessly damage any place a protected species uses for shelter or protection, including during the breeding or nesting seasons. A felling licence does not remove this responsibility. There is a defence if a person can show that the act was the incidental result of a lawful operation and could not reasonably have been avoided, but this would require them to demonstrate that they had followed best practice and taken all reasonable steps to avoid the disturbance or damage. The need to do this is brought to an applicant’s attention in a covering letter when they are issued with a felling licence.