Natural reserves in English woodlands (ENRR384)

This report about minimum intervention reserves in woodland relates principally to England, but is supplemented by general points relating to Britain as a whole, Minimum intervention reserves are seen as a limited core set of about 30 woods, which have been assigned indefinitely to a management policy designed to minimise the impacts of people. However much they were shaped by exploitation and management in the past, their composition, structure, patterns and wildlife will – henceforward – be almost wholly determined by natural factors and processes. Under prevailing conditions, most would probably take the form of irregular high forest old-growth stands.