09/22/01 -- UK: A Forest Rises from the Ashes

UK: A Forest Rises from the Ashes
LIFE IS RETURNING TO A LANDSCAPE LEFT SCARRED BY MINING, REPORTS CHRIS ARNOT

On the M1, just north of Leicester, is one of those blue-and-white signs that usually indicate how far it is to Nottingham, Sheffield or the next service station. This one says simply "National Forest". A dense thicket of trees extends for a few hundred yards or so, alongside the hard shoulder, before petering out into pleasant but unremarkable farmland. The passing motorist could be forgiven for wondering: "Is that it?"

The short answer to that is no. Not by a long chalk. Ten years have passed since Michael Heseltine planted the first tree in his capacity as Environment Secretary. Today, there are more than four million of them, extending over 200 square miles of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire. They are deciduous native hardwoods for the most part - ash and birch, beech and horse chestnut. Oak, too, of course. And oaks can't be hurried. "Willows and poplars will put on a metre a year, but it takes between 15 and 20 years for a sizeable, mature oak tree to establish itself," says Ian Gray, project manager for the Heart of the Forest Foundation. "That one's between three and four years old," he adds, pointing to what looks like a sturdy bush, its roots embedded in colliery waste. The heart of the National Forest was once the heart of the Leicestershire coalfield. Rawdon, thought to be the oldest deep mine in Europe, closed down in the same year that Heseltine planted that first tree. Within a very short time, he would become President of the Board of Trade and sound the death knell for the entire British coal industry.

There's a certain symmetry here. Those coal deposits came initially from decomposing trees. Millions of years on and woodland is being re-established, anchoring the earth, exuding oxygen, providing wildlife havens. It amounts to an inspiring act of faith in the future. The idea came originally from what was known at the time as the Countryside Commission. Government enthusiasm increased markedly after the Rio Summit of 1992. Here was a rare example of how one generation could be seen to be laying down something of value for the next.

The fledgling forest extends 15 miles to the east and 12 miles to the west of its heartland. Many farmers have taken up grants designed to encourage them to diversify into forestry. Eventually, 30 per cent of the designated land will be covered by fully grown trees of the sort that Robin Hood might recognise. "It doesn't sound a lot, 30 per cent," Gray admits. "But this is the old meaning of a forest, incorporating heathland, wetland, parkland and settlements as well as trees."

The "settlements" include towns such as Ashby de la Zouch as well as former pit villages. Moira, just down the road from where we're standing now, has at its core an imposing sculpture of pit-head stocks, incorporating working miners. It's a poignant reminder of an industry which supplied local men with comparatively well-paid jobs. Their loss has at least been countered by improvements in the environment over the past decade.

"Some 70 per cent of Leicestershire's dereliction was here in this parish," says Gray. "There was clay as well as coal extraction and lorries were constantly trundling through the villages, spreading dust. We had to shift 200,000 tons of surface coal to create this site. It had a high sulphur content and was therefore prone to spontaneous combustion."

The remaining colliery waste has been sculpted into more natural-looking hillsides and covered with grass and saplings. The landscape looks a bit sparse, but that will change with time. As it is, the lakeside area in the valley below has matured noticeably since my last visit in April 1999. Dense thickets of birch and willow now ring the water's edge. Nearby, contractors are creating a canal basin which will link up with the wider network and allow leisure boats to cruise right in to the heart of the forest. Meanwhile, Gray is hoping that a railway line used to transport minerals will one day be adapted for passenger use. He's acutely conscious that a project dedicated to creating a more sustainable environment is only accessible by car.

At least there's a little model railway to transport the public from the visitor centre by the lake, through an old tunnel of weathered red brick, to the impressive Conkers discovery centre. It was built, in Derbyshire stone and Scandinavian hardwood, at a cost of pounds 16m, with a substantial contribution coming from the Millennium Commission. Princess Anne came to open it on a snowy spring day, since when it has exceeded all expectations as a tourist attraction.

"We welcomed our 200,000th visitor in early September, and that was our target for the whole year," says Gray, who feels vindicated in his decision to go for a populist approach. "The trouble with the term 'environmental project' is that it can all too easily be made to appeal only to the top two per cent of the population," he says. "To attract Joe Public, you have to make it fun and get the educational messages over in a subliminal way." He is particularly pleased that the number of schoolchildren passing through Conkers is already 6,000 above target.

The interactive displays are a biology teacher's dream. What better place to learn about photosynthesis than inside a giant leaf? What better way to understand about a bat's radar system than to attach yourself to the bat machine, close your eyes and sense the echo from those ultra-sonic squeaks? You hear the forest through a bat's ears. The sounds, sights and smells of a British woodland have been recreated under a majestic, curving roof. On huge touch screens, foxes fight, ladybirds copulate, and butterflies unfold. You can smell a rotting mouse, touch a toad's skin and have a fish-eye view of a descending kingfisher. "This is the antithesis of Game Boy culture," Gray enthuses. "We want them to learn about the natural world in here and then, as the landscape matures, to go out and discover things for themselves."

Already there's much more to discover about the National Forest than anyone could imagine from catching sight of a clump of trees while passing by on the M1.

Conkers (01283-216633) is open daily from 10am-5pm. Adults pounds 4.95, concessions pounds 3.95, children (3-15) pounds 2.95. Family ticket pounds 12.95 Error: Unable to read footer file.