Sylva Foundation - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Sylva Foundation is a tree and forestry

Forestry

Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...

organisation established in 2008, and registered as a charity in England and Wales in 2009. It is based in a rural location in the small village of Little Wittenham

Little Wittenham

Little Wittenham is a village and civil parish on the south bank of the River Thames, northeast of Didcot in South Oxfordshire. It has one of only 220 habitats across Europe which is designated as a Special Area of Conservation under the European Union's Habitats Directive , on the Conservation of...

in Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is concerned with the advancement and promotion of sustainable forest management

Sustainable forest management

Sustainable forest management is the management of forests according to the principles of sustainable development. Sustainable forest management uses very broad social, economic and environmental goals...

.

It was the brain child of Sir Martin Wood

Martin Wood (engineer)

Sir Martin Francis Wood, CBE, FRS was co-founder of Oxford Instruments, one of the first spin-out companies from the University of Oxford and still one of the most successful....

and Dr Gabriel Hemery

Gabriel Hemery

Dr Gabriel Hemery is an English forest scientist and silvologist. He co-founded the Sylva Foundation with Sir Martin Wood, a tree and forestry charity established in 2009.- Career:...

and was formed through the work of the forestry think-tank

Think tank

A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...

Forestry Horizons, established in 2006.

Sylva is a charity that places economics at the heart of its support for sustainable forest management. It has a national perspective with a focus on practical solutions at local and regional levels. Sylva is not a membership-based charity. It functions as a lean organisation, working widely in partnership with other organisations.

The Sylva Foundation's main programmes are Forestry, Education and Science.

Science

Sylva runs the forestry think-tank Forestry Horizons which operates at national and international levels seeking to advance and support forest science (e.g. , ) and forest policy (e.g. , ). It has produced a range of forestry publications for and with external partners (e.g. , and ), peer reviewed publications (e.g. ), and provided public presentations (e.g. ).

Sylva are developing a new applied science project with partners to study the links between environmental stress and tree health.

Education

Their main education project is the OneOak project. OneOak was launched in 2009 and is following the life story of one oak tree. It is aimed at improving people's understanding and knowledge of growing trees for wood.

Sylva collaborates with Forest School

Forest School

Forest School or Forrest School may refer to:* Forest School , an all-boys' secondary school in Horsham, West Sussex.* Forest School , a private school in north-east London....

at a county level with the Oxfordshire Forest School Service. It is also developing plans to support a new national co-ordinator for England.

Forestry

Sylva is aiming to revitalise the wood culture in Great Britain via an ambitious new project: myForest. The concept is that woodland owners map and measure their woodlands and add them to a google map-based website. If they complete an inventory of these woodlands then this will provide all the information necessary for wood buyers to contact them, anonymously, to discuss the procurement of timber. Plans are also being developed to link these woodland inventories with the regulatory framework.

The Sylva Foundation has close links with many organisations as it seeks to work as a catalyst for innovation and as bridge between forestry-related organisations. Of particular note are:

Northmoor Trust
Northmoor Trust
The Northmoor Trust was set up in 1969 by the British engineer Sir Martin Wood to promote environmental conservation through land management, education and land science...

Department of Plant Sciences
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford
The Department of Plant Sciences, at the University of Oxford, focusses on research and teaching in plant and fungal biology.- History :Forestry was an important part of the university under the name of the Imperial Forest Institute , later the Commonwealth Forest Institute from 1939...

, University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

EarthWatch Institute

External links

Sylva Foundation main website

OneOak education project

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