Resilient Forests

• A six-year programme (2020-2026)
• Building on work done in the Growing Confidence in Future Forests (GCFF) programme and Healthy Trees Healthy Future (HTHF) programmes
• Two major research programmes have split out from Resilient Forests: Tree Root Microbiome Programme and Scion’s Transforming Tree Phenotyping programme
• Funding from Scion’s Strategic Science Investment Fund and Forest Growers Levy Trust
• Comprises medium and short-term projects under three main research areas:
  • Managing risk and uncertainty
  • Productivity and wood quality
  • Enhancing resilience/management of pests and diseases.

The Resilient Forests Programme has three closely inter-linked research areas:
Managing risk and uncertainty – understanding public perceptions of plantation forestry; understanding forest companies’ social and environmental activities and the way these are reported to the public. Climate change adaptation and adaptive management through a portfolio approach of forest management options
Productivity and wood quality – understanding GxExS interactions, new approaches to tree growth modelling, soil and site management, and better understanding the management factors influencing wood quality. Exploring the forest microbiome
Enhancing resilience/management of pests and diseases – growth impacts, epidemiology of common foliar diseases (red needle cast and dothistroma), new treatment options, and automonous monitoring systems