P-06-1225 Make Natural Resources Wales undertake and publish annual wildlife surveys before felling woodland

This petition was submitted by Martin Bailey, having collected a total of 1,211 signatures.

Text of Petition:                     

NRW manage state forests but fail to undertake population surveys of protected species before felling woodland. To avoid biodiversity loss they should assess the size of rare species populations present before felling operations are undertaken, so that they ensure habitat loss does not cause decline. The population data should be published before any trees are sold for cutting. Currently they only try and stop rare animals and birds being killed by harvesting machines but this is not enough.

Additional Information:

It’s not good enough to simply try and avoid killing rare animals when trees are cut down. Birds, bats, dormice, newts need certain types of forest habitat and cutting it down means they can’t survive there anymore. Clare Pillman CEO of NRW said ‘Mammals like the red squirrel and water vole, birds like the curlew and plants such as the fen orchid squeezed out by loss of habitat loss’.

https://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-58641886…

NRW need to come clean and survey populations before tree felling takes place and publish the data so the public can see if the agency are causing population declines. They should be taking the lead making sure rare species have enough habitat and not just cutting forests down all the time without showing what this has done to bats and dormice.

Status

This petition was considered completed by the Petitions Committee at its meeting on 10/01/2022.

The Chair of the Committee highlighted that the petition was mentioned in the Senedd debate held in Plenary on 8 December on the protection of red squirrels.

Members agreed to write to the Minister requesting an update on timing of the Natural Resources Wales guidance and legislation referred to in plenary on 8 December, and also agreed to close the petition once the letter from the Minister is received and has been shared with the petitioner.

Full details of the consideration of this petition by the Committee and related documents can be seen on the Meetings tab above.

It was first considered by the Petitions Committee on 10/01/2022.

Senedd Constituency and Region

• Vale of Clwyd
• North Wales

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