Fernando Torres can kick a ball about and is worth £50m, apparently.
40,000ha of England's forests, that's 40,000 football pitches, are worth £100m.
Are our values quite right?
A love of the natural world demonstrates that a person is a cultured inhabitant of planet Earth.
Red kite has used the phrase that came to mind when I read the sell off consultation. The greenest government ever! If the Government wants to live up to its own hype what should it do with 'our' forests? I would suggest that over a fair bit of the FC estate it should apply the polluter pays principle and use timber incomes to restore both PAWS (plantations on ancient woodland sites) and the same with former lowland heathland and lowland bogs that has been 'polluted' with non native conifers. The FC has the staff with the skills and the knowledge to do this, it just needs the commitment. Why should conservation charities pick up the tab for sorting out the damage that has been done to our native woodland and heathland heritage. The ancient woods and restored heathland could then be managed with the NNRs by a combined FC/NE. FC's commercial tree farms that cannot be restored to important wildlife habitats can be sold to private forestry companies, community groups or others but with existing access arrangements maintained.