Working Woodlands

Stimulating business enterprises and job creation are two primary objectives in developing The National Forest. The creation of the Forest means an ever-increasing wood resource for which a working, sustainable market and infrastructure needs to be developed.

This will ensure the longer term financial and environmental sustainability of its woodlands. In helping to achieve this goal, the NFC has established a Forest Economy Working Group and has secured £20,000 funding from the Leicester Shire Economic Partnership and the Derby and Derbyshire Economic Partnership.

Rowan Woodland Products, a forestry and arboricultural business based in the Forest at Ravenstone, are the first to benefit from this fund. They have received help towards the purchase of a mobile bandsaw, a Wood-Mizer LT20. The bandsaw will be able to cut timber on site, and convert it from rough lengths into sawn planks, beams and boards. This processed material can then be sold on to timber merchants and manufacturers of wood based products. The conversion of a low quality material into a higher quality product means that the woodland owner can derive a source of income to help manage the woodland. As part of the agreement with Rowan Woodland Products there will be two free demonstration events so that woodland owners and any other interested parties who wish can see the bandsaw in operation.