About

Bishop Wood is an area of 340.7 hectares of mixed woodland where broadleaf species are the dominant component. The woodland is situated approximately 5 kilometres west of Selby within the south-east corner of Selby District. The forest is leasehold land secured by the Forestry Commission between 1921 and 1953 and was previously managed woodland having originally been felled during the 1914-1918 war.

The forest is situated in the Humberhead Levels national character area, characterised by large geometric highly productive agricultural fields bounded by ditches and drains.

At the start of the previous plan, in 2005, the forest was equally represented by conifer and broadleaf species. Over the last plan period the proportion of conifer has gradually reduced and broadleaf increased.

Objectives

The long term vision for Bishop Wood is to continue the process of conifer Plantation on Ancient Woodland Site restoration to site-native broadleaf species.

Environmental

• Maintain and improve the ecological, cultural and heritage value of these woods, to be measured by Non-Government Organisations and FC systems accordingly.
• Improve the resilience of the natural environment and realise the potential of these woods for nature and wildlife, to be measured by FC systems accordingly.

Social

• Encourage communities to become involved across these woods, its management and direction through consultation in planning and participation in volunteering.
• Maintain and improve the forests contribution to the surrounding landscape character by increasing species and structural diversity, to be measured by external and internal fixed-point photography.

Economic

• Maintain the land within our stewardship under UKWAS certification, to be measured by independent surveillance audits.
• Improve the economic resilience of these woods from a more diverse range of site appropriate conifer and broadleaf species, to be measured by the Production Forecast and Sales Recording Package.

What we’ll do

The Bishop Wood Forest Plan outlines management proposals including felling and restocking for 10 years from 2017 to 2026.

The planned areas for areas of conifer, broadleaf and permanent open space creation during the ten years to 2026 are summarised in the table below.

In addition to these defined operations, selective thinning and group felling will be carried out on a small scale at five and ten year periods.

We will protect and, where appropriate, enhance all known sites of archaeological and ecological importance and all sites, regardless of their designation, will receive the same level of care during the planning and execution of forest operations. The operation planning system will ensure they are recognised and the proper measures for their protection are in place before work begins.

The development of future areas of broadleaf woodland will look to create a robust network of habitats linking conifer and broadleaf woodland with internal and riparian corridors. Natural regeneration will be the preferred method of establishment with the expectation that birch and willow species predominate.

This table illustrates how the plan will progress: