5 Alternative Conifer Species
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SOCIAL RESEARCH NUMBER: C160/2020/2021 PUBLICATION DATE: 23rd JUNE 2021 Top Five Alternative Conifer Tree Species in Great Britain Mae’r ddogfen yma hefyd ar gael yn Gymraeg. This document is also available in Welsh. © Crown Copyright Top Five Alternative Conifer Tree Species in Great Britain Peters, T. D.1*, Hardaker, A. R.1*, Dauksta, D.1, Newman, G.1, Lellig, C.1, & Healey, J. R.2 1 Woodknowledge Wales 2 Prifysgol Bangor University * Should be considered joint first authors Full Research Report: Peters, T. D., Hardaker, A. R., Dauksta, D., Newman, G., Lellig, C., & Healey, J. R. (2021). Top Five Alternative Conifer Tree Species in Great Britain. Cardiff: Welsh Government, GSR report number C160/2020/2021 Views expressed in this report are those of the researchers and not necessarily those of the Welsh Government. Please note this a corrected version of the report published on the 23rd June 2021 which now lists the top five ranked species in Table 3.6 in the correct order (Thuja plicata and Sequoiadendron giganteum were in the wrong order in the previous version). For further information please contact: Name: Zoë Williams-Sutton Department: Land, Nature and Forestry Welsh Government Sarn Mynach Llandudno Junction, Conwy LL31 9RZ Tel: 0300 062 2386 Email: [email protected] i Acknowledgements We would like to thank all the stakeholders who gave up their time to participate in the online meeting and follow up survey, the responses of which were key in pulling together the ranking of the top five alternative conifer species in Great Britain. We would also like to express our thanks especially to Chris Jones (Natural Resources Wales), Sarah Green (Forest Research) and Chris Reynolds (Forest Research) for giving up their valuable time to share their expertise and advice on the write up of this research report. Furthermore, we would also like to thank Bill Mason (Forest Research) and Julian Evans who provided information they felt would be valuable in collating evidence in preparation of this review. ii Table of contents Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... ii Table of contents ........................................................................................................ iii List of tables ............................................................................................................... iv List of figures ............................................................................................................... v Glossary ..................................................................................................................... vi 1. Introduction/Background ................................................................................. 1 2. Methodology ................................................................................................. 15 3. Findings ........................................................................................................ 31 4. Discussion .................................................................................................... 55 5. Conclusions .................................................................................................. 66 6. Recommendations ........................................................................................ 68 Reference section ..................................................................................................... 69 Annex A ..................................................................................................................... 99 Annex B ................................................................................................................... 111 Annex C ................................................................................................................... 114 Annex D ................................................................................................................... 118 iii List of tables Table 2.1: Value tree for identifying the relevant criteria for evaluation of the conifer species. ......................................................................................................... 18 Table 2.3: Long list of 56 alternative conifer species. ............................................... 23 Table 2.4: Values and categories for the values-by-criteria matrix, normalisation procedures for single dimension utilities and data sources. ......................... 26 Table 3.1: The pest and pathogen species affecting conifers that are currently prevalent in GB. ............................................................................................ 31 Table 3.2: Pest and pathogen species affecting conifers that are currently absent from GB but prevalent in France or elsewhere in continental Europe. ......... 32 Table 3.3: Value-by-criteria matrix. ........................................................................... 34 Table 3.4: Stakeholder swing weighting and rank order of the evaluation criteria .... 38 Table 3.5: Weighted scores, multi-attribute utilities and overall ranking of the alternative conifer species. ........................................................................... 39 Table 3.6: Top 5 ranked alternative conifer species. ................................................. 42 Table 3.7: Other alternative conifer species with merit. ............................................ 43 Table 3.8: Mean modulus of elasticity (MOE) values of the top five alternative conifer species. ......................................................................................................... 54 Table A1: Susceptibility and resistance of the alternative conifer species to high risk pests and pathogens currently in GB. ........................................................... 99 Table A2: Susceptibility and resistance of the alternative conifer species to lower risk pests and pathogens currently in GB. ......................................................... 102 Table A3: Susceptibility and resistance of the alternative conifer species to high risk pests and pathogens from France or elsewhere in Europe. ....................... 105 Table A4: Susceptibility and resistance of the alternative conifer species to lower risk pests and pathogens from France and elsewhere in Europe. .................... 108 Table B1: Range of end uses for the timber of the alternative conifer species. ...... 111 Table C1: Criteria for evaluating the suitability of alternative conifer tree species for commercial timber production across GB. .................................................. 116 Table C2: Survey questions. ................................................................................... 116 Table D1: Single dimension utility scores for the alternative conifer species. ......... 118 iv List of figures Figure 3.1: Breakdown of survey responses by category of decision maker. ........... 37 v Glossary The following acronyms and keywords are used throughout this report. The definitions below apply unless stated otherwise. Acronym/Key word Definition C12-C35 Timber strength classes CCF Continuous cover forestry CONFOR Confederation of Forest Industries (UK) Ltd Defra Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs ESC Ecological site classification EUFORGEN European Forest Genetic Resources Programme FC Forestry Commission (England and Scotland) FR Forest Research GB Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) Massive wood products includes cross-laminated Massive wood timber, laminated veneer lumber and glulam and are increasingly being used in tall buildings made of wood or in wooden structures with long spans. MCA Multi criteria analysis Met Office Meteorological Office (UK) MOE Modus of elasticity (kN/mm2) NRW Natural Resources Wales RFS Royal Forestry Society ROC Rank order centroid SilviFuture A UK-based network promoting novel forest species SMART Simple multi-attribute rating technique SMARTER Simple multi-attribute rating technique exploiting ranks TRADA The Timber Research and Development Program UK United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland) UKCCC United Kingdom’s Climate Change Committee UN United Nations Brexit UK’s exit from the EU In Britain since the English Channel was flooded in the early Native part of the present interglacial period about 6,000 years ago The place from which the species originated, i.e., the native Origin range of a tree The geographic locality from which seed, scions etc. were Provenance collected, not necessarily the same as the origin of the population. vi 1. Introduction/Background 1.1 Devolved government policy in England, Scotland and Wales supports the significant future expansion and sustainable management of plantation woodlands (Defra, 2020; Scottish Government, 2019; Welsh Government, 2018). The UK Climate Change Committee have set out strong recommendations for 30,000 hectares of new woodland per annum by 2050 (UKCCC, 2020), of which a significant portion will likely be commercial plantation woodlands. Expansion and sustainable management of this new woodland will act as a mechanism for meeting UN Sustainable Development Goal 15, combatting climate change, improving home-grown timber supply for the construction sector, and providing a wide range of valuable public goods. Plantations, alongside other forms of woodland creation, have an important role in carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation, providing public amenity and recreational benefits and biodiversity