Jul 20, 2016 – What happens now?
I have been on holiday for a fortnight and have resisted the pull of multimedia, e-mails and the tablet.  Having signed into LinkedIn I was surprised to see that Brexit never happened!  I am not the most connected but clearly this is the case?  Perhaps I was dreaming or is the business media world so stunned as to have no thoughts they can share or will it just go away if we ignore it?
Prior to the vote there was some well-mannered and even handed discussion on the impact of Brexit on Forestry.  CONFOR and the ICF ran a number of opinion pieces but I suspect all contributors are now surprised at where we find ourselves.
Clearly while much is uncertain there is much that we do know and much that we need to start to get to grips with.  The first known is that the Pound is weaker and that history shows us that even during a recession this is in invariably good news for the UK timber industry and UK timber growers.  More expensive timber imports allow UK producers to increase their prices and market share.  I am constantly annoyed that economic commentators ignore this impact of a weaker currency on any UK producer who competes with imports for domestic market share.  It is not all about exports.
How long the currency remains weaker is unknown but I suspect that this is no simple market correction and we can look forward to this prospect for some time to come. Make no mistake, a weaker currency is the best news the UK Forestry sector can have.
As for things to start to get to grips with then there is prospect of losing the influence of the EU on Forestry grants and regulation, environmental regulation and employment regulation to mention but three areas.
The first of these, grants and regulation, judging by recent debate and comment is one where change is drastically needed.  Forestry support has been shoe horned for too long into an uncomfortable old boot of environmental support.  Please no more.  We need a new support stream based around employment, carbon and import substitution.  We need the private sector to drive this forward and not accept the inadequate and creaking grant system handed down by devolved government agencies.
I would also use this opportunity to call for less grant aid if this can be matched with less regulation and a lighter touch in administration. Where to cut? Management plans, management grants and support for smalls scale hobby woodlands?  What to support and where to re-focus? Larger productive planting.
Much environmental regulation is based in EU law.  The Civil Service are starting work to transfer EU regulations and laws into UK law and then allowing a more leisurely review of this once we are free.  However, I would argue now is the time to start a thorough review and we need to know what regulations are negatively impacting on forestry.  The DEFRA Forestry Regulation Task Force was a useful piece of work in 2013 which has largely been ignored.  The one success (?) was the removal of forestry from the Gang Master Licencing Regulation but the other 40 recommendations have been shelved.  Time is ripe to review these recommendations in each country and make a case for implementing more of this work in the next few years.
Environmental Regulation be they through the EU habitats directive, Water Frame Work directives or older Wildlife and Countryside Acts all have an impact on Forestry practice.  We have seen constant additions and amendments to these regulations which are now unworkable and damaging to rural employment and practice.  All need to be fully revised and updated. This will not be a popular vote winning task but it is needed as the forest industry is finding itself in breach of several pieces of regulation each time it cuts a tree down.
Brexit has a long way to go but it has thrown down a challenge that we must take on and take on now. David Atkinson Forestry Manager at Edwin Thompson