The British government is to pay English woodland owners to replace tree plantations of foreign conifers with traditional tree varieties. The government seeks to reverse the steep decline in England's ancient and native woods by providing incentives to restore native woodlands. They are to be commended for realizing that all tree species are not of equal value, and that tree plantations do not a forest make. This sort of government program is right in line with recommendations I made in my recent personal Earth Meander writing - Dawning of the Age of Ecological Restoration. There I highlighted the importance for global ecological sustainability of getting on with restoring plant communities and ecosystems across fragmented landscapes, even as we fight to conserve natural ecosystems that remain.