Memories of woodland fun and the work of the Forestry Commission
A training day for childminders at Whinlatter Forest (Image: Newsquest)
The Forestry Commission is a government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England.
Forestry Commission harvest and site supervisor Paul Allen with a £300,000 harvester (Image: Newsquest)
It was established in 1919 to expand Britain's forests and woodland, which had been severely depleted during the First World War. The commission bought large amounts of agricultural land on behalf of the state, eventually becoming the largest manager of land in Britain.
Adrian Jones, manager at the Forestry Commission at Whinlatter (Image: Newsquest)
Today, the Forestry Commission is divided into three divisions: Forestry England, Forestry Commission and Forest Research. Over time, its purpose broadened to include many other activities beyond timber production.
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Shane Lowe, 16, of Tebay, won the prestigious John Muir Trust Conserver Award thanks to his work with the Forestry Commission (Image: Newsquest)
One major activity is scientific research, some of which is carried out in research forests across Britain. Recreation is also important, with several outdoor activities being actively promoted. Protecting and improving biodiversity across England's forests are a further part of the Forestry Commission's remit.
Bike specialist Cyclewise Whinlatter and the Forestry Commission created two new courses for the young mountain bike enthusiast (Image: Newsquest)
Before the setting up of separate bodies for Scotland, the organisation managed almost 700,000 hectares (about 1.7 million acres) of land in England and Scotland, making it the country's biggest land manager.
Brownies from Cleator Moor teamed up with the Forestry Commission to mark their centenary and help make the area greener (Image: Newsquest)
Deforestation was the main reason for the creation of the commission in 1919. Britain had only five per cent of its original forest cover left and the government wanted to create a strategic resource of timber.
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Claire Steel and Savannah Carruthers, three, from Workington meet The Gruffalo on the Forestry Commission's trail (Image: Newsquest)
Since then forest coverage has doubled and the commission's remit expanded to include greater focus on sustainable forest management and maximising public benefits. Woodland creation continues to be an important role of the commission, and it works closely with government to achieve its goal of 12 per cent forest coverage by 2060, championing initiatives such as The Big Tree Plant and Woodland Carbon Code.
Tawny owl numbers were soaring at the Forestry Commission's Kielder Forest (Image: Newsquest)
The Forestry Commission is also the government body responsible for the regulation of private forestry in England; felling is generally illegal without first obtaining a licence from the commission. It is also responsible for encouraging new private forest growth and development. Part of this role is carried out by providing grants in support of private forests and woodlands.
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Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Farming and rural affairs journalist presented with prestigious medal
THE farming and rural affairs editor for newspaper titles across Cumbria has been presented with a prestigious industry prize. Maureen Hodges, 73, was awarded the Blamire Medal during a special ceremony at Dalston Show on Saturday. The award is recognition of more than two decades spent telling farmers' stories, from their successes and triumphs to the industry's darker and more difficult periods - including the horrors of foot and mouth. Maureen is farming and rural affairs editor across publisher Newsquest Cumbria's full portfolio, including The Cumberland News. Maureen Hodges (left) and Heather Pritchard from the Blamire Trust. (Image: Stuart Walker) David Allen who hosted the event, Maureen Hodges and Heather Pritchard from the Blamire Trust (Image: Stuart Walker) The prize - presented by The Blamire Trust in memory of former Cumberland MP and High Sheriff William Blamire, who pioneered 19th century agricultural reforms - recognises people involved in the development, promotion or support of agriculture in the Cumberland area. READ MORE: Maureen Hodges awarded Blamire Medal at Dalston Show Amid the sunshine at Dalston Show on Saturday, Maureen was presented with the award by Heather Pritchard from the Blamire Trust. Speaking as she gave the award, Ms Pritchard spoke of Maureen's childhood spent on her grandparents' farm in Galloway and her 50-year career in journalism. "Through the dark days of foot and mouth disease, Maureen really went above and beyond for the farmers of Cumbria, telling the wide world about the horrific effects this had on the farming community," she said. The presentation was held at Dalston Show at the weekend (Image: Stuart Walker) Maureen accepting the Blamire medal at the 2025 Dalston Show (Image: Stuart Walker) "Her in-depth knowledge and expertise of the agricultural sector has led to many articles of her work not just hitting the northern area headlines, but also getting out to the wider audience of the national press. "We are here today to recognise the outstanding contribution which Maureen has made to farming over the years, not only as agricultural editor with the Cumberland News but through her support to the farmers and their families during difficult times. "Her unbiased reporting has been recognised and is a credit to you Maureen and is much appreciated by the farming community." Maureen Hodges and Heather Pritchard from the Blamire Trust (Image: Stuart Walker) The sun shone on the crowds at Dalston Show at the weekend (Image: Stuart Walker) Maureen said: "I am absolutely honoured and privileged to receive the Blamire Medal. I am overwhelmed, humble and proud to be recognised for my services for near on 25 years to the agricultural community in the old county of Cumberland. "I would like to thank the Blamire Trust for nominating myself for such a special award. "I also want to take this opportunity to thank David Allen, sponsors of The Cumberland News 'Back our Farmers' campaign and partner of the Cumbria Farmer Awards, for hosting this medal presentation. David has been a great supporter of our work and of the farming community in Cumbria. Maureen Hodges, farming and rural affairs editor at The Cumberland News, and recipient of the Blamire Medal (Image: Stuart Walker) "I would also like to thank my family, friends and colleagues for joining me to help celebrate this special day." The Blamire Memorial Trust was formed just over 163 years ago in February 1862 in remembrance of William Blamire, who was a Cumberland Yeoman, Member of Parliament and Inclosure Commissioner. He was born at The Oaks in Dalston in 1790.
USA Today
5 days ago
- USA Today
The heir's property: one man's journey to reclaim family land in the American South
'The Heir's Property" is an in-depth look at the issue of land passed down through generations, told through the lens of one man's struggle to retain land purchased a century ago by his great-grandfather, who was born into slavery during the Confederacy. Heirs' property is usually defined as land handed down without clear, official documentation. Over the course of the 20th century, Black Americans lost roughly 80% of the property they owned at the peak of ownership a few decades after the Civil War because of theft and systemic injustices. This is the first in a two-part series. It was a hot July afternoon, and Saul Blair stood at the edge of a forest in northern Georgia, watching a pickup truck bounce along a rutted dirt road. Blair is a retired health care executive who wore a suit and tie to work every day, long after everyone else switched to khakis. At one point in his career, as regional director for a national company, his territory − Arizona and part of New Mexico − generated 40% of the revenue for the entire country. On this day, he wore the body armor of a modern weekend warrior: Patagonia sweat-wicking, sun-blocking separates; trail running shoes; bug spray. For all that, the land had gotten under his skin. The property had been purchased by Blair's great-grandfather, John Thomas, Jr., a man born into slavery in 1859 who nonetheless managed the incredible: acquiring more than 300 acres deep in the heart of the Confederacy and dividing it among his 11 children when he died. Blair inherited the plots owned by his mother, Amminita Benson-Blair, who begged Saul on her deathbed in 2010 to 'not lose Grandaddy's land.' He has spent the better part of his retirement − and a lot of time in the years before it − trying to honor that request. How hard could it be to 'not lose' several dozen acres of land? In a nation where the scars of slavery and racialized violence still loom, pretty hard, as it turns out. Researchers estimate that between 1865 and 1910, Black Americans acquired 15 million acres of land. But by 2001, an estimated 80% of it had been lost. 'Lost' can mean several things: sold for pennies on the dollar by ancestors who had no other options, seized in a tax lien sale or foreclosure auction, taken by scammers, held in indefinite legal limbo when succeeding generations have so many part-owners that they can't agree on anything. Blair's records are meticulous and his research extensive. His two parcels of property are held in trust by LLCs he organized. He has an agreement with a program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a good relationship with Georgia's state Forestry Commission. He knows about property law, forest management and local history thanks to his yearslong odyssey to make the land his own. Yet the man driving toward him was about the 17th logger Blair had contacted over the past year and a half. As part of the agreement with the USDA, some trees needed to be cut down and hauled out. Most loggers told him the job was too small to be worth their while. Some said conditions were too wet, or the trees were too young. Many simply never called back. Blair had higher hopes for the man maneuvering toward him that morning. Charles Ware was a family friend. He was a jack-of-all-trades, not the owner of an established logging company, and was hungrier for the work. He was also Black. For all his advantages − and Blair knew he was one of the lucky ones − wrangling the land often felt futile. He felt it slipping through his fingers, little by little. The primary purpose of his visit was hiring a logger, but the more he learned about the roadblocks faced by Thomas' other descendants, the more he despaired. 'If I can't make this work, other Black landowners are doomed,' he said. John Thomas Jr. John Thomas Jr. spent $4,735.60 − about $107,000 in today's dollars − for 306.59 acres of farmland in Rayle, a speck of a town two hours east of Atlanta. When he died, one parcel went to Lizzie Thomas, who later married Alfred Benson. Amminita, Blair's mother, was their daughter. Saul Blair was born in Los Angeles in 1949. He's the middle child, with one older and one younger sister. His father was often absent, and he was gone by the time Saul graduated high school. At age 16, Blair started working in a hospital over spring vacation, filing, pulling patient charts, and doing other clerical work. He stayed on, going to school from morning to midafternoon, then worked at the hospital from about 3 to 11 p.m. He kept up that schedule through four years at UCLA, and when he graduated, he started working at the hospital full time. All told, he spent nearly two decades there. He got married and had three sons. In 1984, a memory tugged at him. He asked a legal firm affiliated with the hospital to track down what had become of the land his great-grandfather left to his children. A lawyer named Cheri Laverty returned an astonishing four-page document tracing each of the 11 plots − she called them 'tracks' or 'tracts,' variously − through the previous five decades. Some of the plots had been foreclosed on; some had been sold, including one for as little as $10. Laverty included a hand-sketched family tree of sorts, noting the transactions. 'In summarizing, I think that you can safely assume that Tract Nos. 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 have been legally transferred to people outside of your family,' Laverty wrote. Not even 50 years had passed since Thomas died, and half of his legacy was gone. Blair read the report, put it in a desk drawer and carried on with his life: raising his sons and advancing a hard-charging career. What is heirs' property? Property that passes informally between generations may be one of the thorniest yet least-acknowledged challenges facing Black Americans today. One of the most comprehensive estimates suggests there's well over $30 billion worth of such property throughout the country, much of it in the Deep South and Appalachia. Though Americans of all backgrounds have personal experience with family property transfers that don't go smoothly, it may be particularly resonant among Black and Native American communities. Fannie Mae, which wrote the analysis noted above, puts it this way: 'Inherited properties can have title issues, which in some cases are a product of generations of systemic exclusion from financial and legal systems. Due to various racial and economic disparities, land retention and wealth acquisition are inhibited for some households due to property title issues.' In 2020, Thomas Mitchell, a law professor, won a MacArthur Genius Grant for his work on heirs' property legal reforms. One of Mitchell's most crucial accomplishments was developing model legislation for states to protect heir-owners and streamline the process for resolving their estates. The legislation, the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, has become law in 22 states, including Georgia. In awarding the grant, the MacArthur Foundation said 'Mitchell is remedying a major factor in the racial wealth gap.' Saul Blair's recognition of the enormity of the situation energizes his efforts. 'Is our family also the victim of inappropriate acquisition of land (by) whites?' he mused in June. 'If it's true, then we want our land back. It's become my mission. And I don't apologize to anybody.' First steps Blair left Cheri Laverty's research untouched for nearly 20 years, but in the early 2000s, as his mother's health declined, he pulled it out again and began to use the internet to do his own research. He found an organization called the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, where an attorney helped him get the title establishing formal ownership of his parcel. With her guidance, Blair also set up the LLC with some of his cousins. His research also led him to McIntosh SEED (Sustainable Environment and Economic Development), a rural community development organization. McIntosh SEED works across the Deep South and views its agricultural work as inseparable from fighting racism. The group helped Blair develop a land management program and connected him to a branch of the USDA called the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). NRCS's Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) helps farmers, ranchers and forest landowners work toward cleaner water and air, healthier soil and better conditions for wildlife. EQIP can help small landowners offset some of the costs of maintaining their property, but perhaps even more valuable is the on-the-ground assistance Blair gets from a state agency that helps implement its plan. Casey Tudor, a forester with the Georgia Forestry Commission, knows Blair's two tracts like some people know their own backyards. During Blair's June trip, Tudor explained that the most important reason to thin out trees is to allow more sunlight to penetrate the forest. Georgia is the most-forested state in the nation, Tudor said in an interview with USA TODAY, which means that if someone inherits land there, it's a good bet it's going to 'have timber all over it.' The success of some of the programs for landowners may mean more property is transitioning from agriculture toward forests. An outbreak of pine beetles and 2024's Hurricane Helene helped contribute to a glut of pulpwood in the market, however, which drove down the value of that wood and made loggers even less interested in investing resources on a small lot like Blair's. The Wilkes County Colony Blair knows little about John Thomas' life despite his extensive research. He spoke in June with Susan O'Donovan, a professor at the University of Memphis whose research focuses on the lives of formerly enslaved people in the period after the Civil War. O'Donovan didn't know about John Thomas before being contacted as part of this USA TODAY project but was familiar with the history of a group of formerly enslaved people from Wilkes County. 'A bunch of them pooled their money, formed what we now know as the Wilkes County Colony, and relocated into southwest Georgia, where they rented a plantation in Dougherty County,' O'Donovan said in an interview. It was just one example of freed people banding together in a world turned upside down by emancipation. The federal government's few attempts to transition the recently emancipated into the postwar economy were inadequate, historians believe. And life was hard. During the war, the South lost its place as the world's major supplier of cotton, so by 1867, its economy was suffering, even as much of the land had been degraded by the crop itself. Most work available to formerly enslaved people would have involved farming. Sharecropping − akin to indentured servitude − would have been the least appealing. One step up from that was working for someone else, usually a White farmer or plantation owner, for wages. That presented less risk but almost zero autonomy, and working conditions were often not much different from slavery. One step up from 'wage work' was renting your own land, which is how John Thomas started out. It was still risky, but it provided more independence. 'The best thing was to own your own land,' O'Donovan said. 'If you could pay for your land, and if you could make enough every year to cover your taxes, you weren't beholden to anybody. You bore the risk of the crop. But you could grow enough food to survive. You had an autonomy as a landholder that was denied to everybody else.' O'Donovan speculates that Thomas took advantage of his limited autonomy as a renter to make additional streams of income however he could: growing fruit and vegetables for sale in nearby towns, or to the steamboat trade that sprung up along the Savannah River. He may also have cut wood for sale. Thomas' children probably contributed to the family's income. Boys may have worked in the field, and girls may have been indoor domestic workers. 'These weren't high-wage opportunities,' O'Donovan said. 'But if you had the freedom to piece them together, which you're not going to get if you're a wage worker or a sharecropper, you could begin to generate that money.' The document that recorded Thomas' land purchase says he had previously rented it. He and others who had been enslaved would have been acutely aware of the importance of owning property, O'Donovan said, in large part from simply observing the race and power dynamics around them: White people owned, Black people did not. The same notions about real estate we accept today − ''It's an asset; you can pass it on to your children; this is how you build wealth" − would have been just as familiar then. 'Generations of African-Americans were not able to build wealth generation by generation, by accumulating property, being able to pay for their kids to go to college, all this stuff,' O'Donovan said. 'That is what makes the middle class the middle class, which makes rich people rich. Yeah, housing is everything.' The plot thickens Of all the mysteries surrounding John Thomas' life, one of the most confounding is how he pulled it off. Blair had long assumed that Thomas had paid cash for the property, and O'Donovan confirmed it's almost unimaginable that a Black man could have found a way to finance the purchase that wouldn't have been so costly as to be prohibitive. But recently, a detail on the purchase documents had caught Blair's attention. Nine years had passed between when the landowners made Thomas a 'bond for title,' whatever that was, and when the official ownership document was filed. Had Thomas paid the White men installments on the property from 1909 to 1918? Blair found either scenario − that a formerly enslaved man could have come up with the equivalent of $100,000 cash, or that he could have trusted a White family to make good on a yearslong agreement in the same community where human beings had only recently been chattel property − equally dubious. In late June, Blair traveled to Georgia with two first cousins. He and Linda Benson, 69, a special-education teacher who lives near him in Mesa, Arizona, spent little time together as children but have become close as adults. Another cousin, Carol Nickelson, is 84 and lives in Manhattan, retired from managerial roles at big companies like Verizon. All are grandchildren of Lizzie Benson, one of John's 11 children. Blair is responsible for two of the original 11 parcels of land: Tract 3, which he manages via an LLC that includes the cousins and other descendants of Lizzie Benson, and Tract 4, which he bought from a distant cousin named Yolande Minor. The purpose of the trip was hiring a logger for the two tracts, but they also took the opportunity to meet family. Blair had wanted to see Minor, but she was in the hospital. Instead, he and Benson had lunch with Ella Barnes and Vivian Gamble, sisters who were also Thomas' great-granddaughters. Barnes and Gamble had their own predicament. Their property had become landlocked. Outsiders had bought up some of Thomas' property to their south, blocking their only access point. And at some time in the past few years, they discovered their tax bills were being sent to, and paid, by someone with no connection to the family, without their knowledge. Over lunch, the sisters asked Benson and Blair to visit the tax office in the Rayles county seat on their behalf to sort out the tax question. As they drove away, the two cousins were perplexed. How could a random stranger be paying the family's taxes? They assumed Ella and Vivian would have to have been delinquent before such a thing could happen. Blair, who's usually good-natured, often half-joked that his inability to hire a logger felt like a 'conspiracy.' Was this another collusion to deprive the family of their inheritance? Coming Sunday: The Heir's Property, Part 2
Yahoo
01-08-2025
- Yahoo
Royal Mint reveals the 9 rarest £2 coins with some worth more than £500
The 9 rarest £2 coins in circulation in the UK today have been revealed by the Royal Mint, while Brits are also being urged to keep an eye out for one extra-special edition that could be worth more than £500. The Royal Mint's list of the rarest £2 coins in the UK include a number of commemorative Commonwealth Games coins from 2002, and a special commemorative First World War coin. While experts have urged everyone to check their change for another First World War inspired coin, which could be worth more than £500. Originally released in 2014 by the Royal Mint, the coin commemorates 100 years since the start of the First World War. The coin shows the face of Lord Kitchener who featured on the 'Your Country Needs You' posters. While a normal version of the coin will be worth no more than its face value of £2, a batch of the coins featured a rare error that boost their value for collectors. On some of the coins the words 'Two Pounds' are missing on the head side of the coin. According to experts at Coin Hunter, 5,720,000 of these coins are still in circulation but it appears to be 'very rare' to find one without a date. It isn't clear exactly how many of coins with an error remain in circulation but the first of its kind sold in March 2020 for £500. Recommended Reading: Royal Mint 50p sells for 300 times face value on eBay this week - how to spot Royal Mint reveals the 10 rarest 50p coins in circulation in the UK today 'Check your change': Your £2 coin could be worth £500 - how to spot Coin Hunter experts said on Facebook: "Check your coins that feature Lord Kitchener. "If the heads side does not show 'TWO POUNDS' - you have an error that appears to be very rare." Royal Mint rarest £2 coins These are the 9 rarest £2 coins according to the Royal Mint, and their mintage. A Royal Mint spokesman said: 'It's been 27 years since the first UK £2 coins were struck for circulation, sparking a year of celebrations, but the coin's history actually stretches back to 1986 when the first commemorative UK £2 coin was struck for the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. 'This was the first time a sporting event had been commemorated on UK coinage. 'Although these coins have the same diameter as the post-1997 circulating £2 coin, they are single-coloured nickel brass and much heavier.' Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland 2002 – 485,500 Commonwealth Games, Wales 2002 – 585,500 World War 1 Royal Navy Fifth Portrait 2015 – 650,000 Britannia Fifth Portrait 2015 – 650,000 Commonwealth Games, England 2002 – 650,000 Commonwealth Games, Scotland 2002 – 771,750 Olympic Games Handover 2012 - 845,000 Olympic Games 2008 – 910,000 Olympic Games Handover 2008 – 918,000
