Foreword

Britain can hardly be included among the great forestry countries such as Russia, Brazil or Canada.Despite a doubling in the size of its forests over the past 80 years, their area ranks towards the bottom of the country list in terms of hectares per person or percentage of forest cover.Nor can it be said that there exists in Britain a great long-standing forestry tradition or culture as found in Germany, France or Sweden, for example.And yet ....... there is a fascinating story to be told and achievements to be proud of in the history of British forestry during the 20th century.By the end of the century the area of forests in the UK (including Northern Ireland) had risen to over 2.75 million hectares and covered 11% of the land area.Three quarters of them consisted of plantations.Few other countries-Ireland and Denmark are two-have achieved a comparable change in the rural landscape in favour of forestry over as short a time.Furthermore, from being in a deplorable state by the end of the First World War, British forests are now well above the European average in terms of productivity (wood yield per hectare), and they are being called upon to meet increasingly heavy social and environmental demands from a dense, largely urbanised society.British forestry, and the institutions which support it, have come to be highly regarded by foresters worldwide.Who better than E. G. 'Dick' Richards to tell this story?He gained his B. Sc. in forestry at Aberdeen University in 1938, but his career in forestry was delayed by the outbreak of the Second World War.He joined the British Army and saw active and distinguished service as an officer in the Royal Engineers in North Africa, Sicily and Western Europe.After the war, Dick joined the Forestry Commission as District Forest Officer in North Scotland and stayed with the Commission for the whole of his professional career until his retirement as Director at Headquarters in 1978.He held a number of positions, including responsibilities for the development of markets and the utilisation of timber, both from the Commission's forests as well as from the private sector.For many years he was a member of UK delegations to international meetings, including those of the FAO European Forestry Commission and the ECE Timber Committee, and he was also the Chairman of the Joint FAOjECEjILO Committee on Forest Working Techniques and the Training of Forest Workers.Xl

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