Sylva - myForest

Forest Lab

Spotlight - Soils Advice Project

We are currently recruiting woodland managers interested in learning more about their woodland soils and we will be developing a new soil health assessment approach which can be used by all managers in future.

Good soil health is essential for a woodland, including providing resilience in the face of environmental change. We will focus on designing an assessment approach which can be delivered by most woodland managers, taking into account varying conditions and needs.

If you are selected to take part in this project, you can:

Help shape a soil assessment approach which is usable and useful for all woodland managers.
Learn more about soil health and how to improve it.
Obtain information about your soils (soil type, nutrient, water regime) and tree species suitability.
Receive training in how to assess your soil health and detailed, bespoke information and recommendations for your site and its soil management.
Contribute to a better understanding of how we can improve woodland soil health.

How to take part

Taking part in Forest Lab requires an account on the myForest platform (this includes a free account).

An Engagement Agreement sets out our joint commitments in working with you, and also what we expect from you in return. We aim to provide clarity and details on important aspects, including commitments on your time, any legal considerations, and any specific responsibilities.

As with other areas of the myForest platform, we take pride in the care and attention we apply to managing your personal data. We have specific data sharing terms and conditions for Forest Lab because we are sharing some personal and/or environmental data with our research partners.

Join myForest

About Forest Lab

Forest Lab is an application within myForest which provides technology and tools to help volunteer land managers share data to inform environmental science, and in return improve knowledge exchange between scientists and land managers.

Sylva Foundation and Forest Research are working in partnership to deliver Forest Lab, enabling myForest users to collect and share data from their woodlands to help support research. We have also started working with external researcher partners, including a university.

myForest users are responsible for about 9% of woodland area across the UK, therefore collectively are able to represent a wide range of woodland types, and to explore many different issues, at thousands of different locations across the country.

Science Projects

Forest Lab provides valuable data for scientists and practical engagement with volunteers, supporting projects which explore a growing range of topics:

Ips Project - Volunteers are helping to monitor the potential movement of the invasive tree pest the eight-tooth spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus) which affects spruce trees.
Living Layers Project - developing indicators of volunteer’s woodland structure and biodiversity potential, and exploring the impact of woodland management on these indicators.
Oak Health Project - monitoring the changing health of oak trees and woodland across Britain with volunteers helping test and deploy a new assessment method.
Soil Advice Project - Researchers are working with volunteers to help understand the soils in their woodlands. This project will help develop a new approach which can be used by all woodland managers to help assess soil health.
Tree Growth Project - Tree growth is an important feature affecting ecological conditions in forests. Volunteers are collecting repeated measurements of tree diameter using dendrometer bands to help improve our understanding of the responses of trees to changes in site management and environmental conditions.
Wildfire Project - Volunteers are providing valuable information and data to help our understanding of wildfire risk. Taking part will decrease wildfire risk for participants, and ultimately for all woodland owners across the country.

In Development - new projects are currently in development and the project team is always keen to hear from other researchers interested in proposing new projects.