Lampeter & Cilcennin Forest Resource Plan – Approved 21 March 2023

Location & Setting

The Lampeter and Cilcennin Forest Resource Plan amounts to 663 hectares, incorporating several small woodlands on the immediate outskirts of Lampeter, to the North and West of the town, along with various more extensive blocks further to the north, situated across the area surrounding Cross Inn, Bethania and Cilcennin.
The Lampeter woodlands lay within a diverse lowland landscape, sited just beyond the town’s urban fringe and forming an integral part of the rich agricultural and mixed woodland landscape which surrounds the town.
Though still at relatively low elevations, the various woodland blocks surrounding Cilcennin and Cross Inn to the north, lay within a fairly flat and extremely exposed landscape, surrounded by some notable areas of heath and mire. These features give the woodlands a much more upland character than their altitude would suggest, and this has historically had some significant influence on the management options utilised for these woodlands.
The whole of the forest resource plan area lies within Ceredigion Local Planning Authority.

Summary of Objectives

Within the forest resource plan and coupe planning:

Maintain a sustainable supply of timber production through the design of felling and choice of restock species and through the utilisation of site appropriate silvicultural systems.
Diversify the species and structural composition of the forest, with consideration to both current and future site conditions, increasing resilience to pests, disease and climatic changes. Remaining larch crops will be felled at an accelerated rate to limit the risk from Phytophthora ramorum, and Hymenoscyphus (Chalara) infected ash managed for safety into its senescence.
Felling design will encourage the development of robust windfirm edges, breaking up coupes to manageable units that sit comfortably within the landscape. Implementing a regular thinning program in younger crops will improve stability, quality and amenity value, and where exposure, rooting conditions and management history permit, will facilitate the targeted application of Low Impact Silvicultural Systems (LISS). The more productive compartments will lie within a robust network of native and riparian woodland, natural reserves, minimum intervention areas and a mosaic of open habitats.
Maintain and enhance priority habitats and support protected species, with particular focus on the restoration of Plantation on Ancient Woodland Sites (PAWS), the restoration of priority deep peats and associated habitats, enhancing habitat connectivity and the control of Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS). Linkages will be maintained along riparian zones, forest roads, public rights of way (PROW) and other access routes, through appropriate management of verges, open ground and native woodland corridors. Undertakings will benefit key European protected species recorded in the vicinity, along with notable features of adjoining designated sites.
Manage for the protection of water and soils, to maintain water quality and facilitate improvements in aquatic habitats and natural flood management across the various catchments into which the woodlands drain. The buffering potential of existing riparian woodland will be expanded, establishing a network of successional and native woodland along streamside corridors, providing enhanced mitigation against mobilised sediments, and improving linkages between existing habitats.
Be sensitive to the historic setting of the woodlands and to maintaining opportunities for public access and recreation. The landscape setting of individual heritage features will be considered along with the wider landscape character of the distinct woodland blocks, while sustainable access over a well-connected network of paths, forest roads and public rights of way will be actively maintained.

Summary of the main changes that will occur in the forest

Throughout the coming plan period, the core area of the Cilcennin and Cross Inn blocks will remain an important productive woodland, providing a sustainable supply of timber to support employment and the Welsh economy.
Species and structural diversity will be significantly enhanced, providing greater resilience to pests, disease and climatic changes.
The spread of Phytophthora ramorum will require accelerated removal of all larch crops from the area over the next 10 years, with a significant proportionunder notice for removal within the next 3 years. This will be a key driver behind the proposed felling program during the coming plan period.
The areas of ‘Plantation on Ancient Woodland Sites’ (PAWS) which dominate the Lampeter Woods, and are present in Allt Goch, on the southern edge of Cilcennin, will undergo conversion back to native broadleaf woodland. Though a steady, progressive transition (through repeated thinning operations) is the preferred method for this, clearance of Phytophthora infected larch will require a more rapid ‘fell and restock’ based transition to broadleaf woodland in some of these compartments.
The significant expansion of successional broadleaf woodland, around riparian features and adjacent to the various heathland and marshy grassland areas bordering the woodlands, will provide enhanced buffering for the designated features of these sites, and further improve habitat connectivity.
Several areas of currently afforested deep peat have been identified as restorable and will undergo a process of clearance and re-wetting (through drain blocking etc.), securing the condition of these peatland features into the future and contributing to the area of managed open ground on site.
Though site constraints around the Cilcennin blocks (exposure, ground conditions and management history of existing crops etc.), will require continued use of clearfell management on much of the area during the current rotation, an incremental ‘Low Impact Silvicultural Systems’ (LISS) approach will be favoured wherever site and crop conditions allow. Moving forward, as future young crops are brought into a cycle of regular thinning, the area on which this can viably be applied will rise over time. Following the current round of larch clearances, all of the Lampeter woods will in future be managed under LISS.
Maintaining an appropriate landscape setting around Scheduled Ancient Monuments (SAMs), the identification and preservation of other heritage features and the provision of healthy access opportunities for the community will remain as important objectives.

Maps

Location map

Long Term Primary Objectives Map

Forest Management Systems Map

Indicative Forest Types and Habitats Map

Comments or feedback

If you have any comments or feedback, you can contact the Forest Resource Planning team at frp@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk.

Last updated