More than 50 per cent of lowland wood has been lost during the past 50 years and Dole Wood could conceivably add to that statistic when the felling begins next winter.
Dole Wood is not under threat from development; construction; farming practices; financial gain or disease. It is threatened by the management plans and targets of its lesses and guardians, The Wildlife Trust and Natural England.
One definition of
management is 'to bend to one's will'. That may apply to farming, and it certainly applies to gardening. It can never be appropriate for nature conservation, especially when it involves destroying trees and habitats which have been growing for centuries.
If the Forestry Commission grant was not available, would the trees be felled, or would nature be allowed to take its course? Maybe the grant is dictating the management programme.
Don't assume the voluntary and government organisations know best.
They are run by humans, humans can get it wrong. In nature there is no need for speed, time is measured in decades and generations. The felling plans should be abandoned.
Please sign the Save Dole Wood Trees petition which is available at Thurlby Village shop, The Local, Bourne and the Stamford Mercury offices.
JOYCE STEVENSON
Obthorpe Lane,
Thurlby
