Government plans to sell off England's Forests

I wrote to my Conservative Member of Parliament on Monday and have received a couple of responses.  I understand that he has met with the Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, but the information that returned was rather vague and inconclusive - namely that no decision has yet been taken and that some forests (including the New Forest) have been counted as 'heritage forests' and will not be touched.  Caroline Spelman has released a written statement to parliament which contains information on a public consultation ending on 21 April.

Sadly there are no guarantees to offer continued protection of biodiversity and public access, although a number of MPs are expected to field questions on the matter in parliament.

You can take part in petitions at 38 Degrees (which contains a tool to make it easy to write to your MP and contains responses from MPs), The Woodland Trust and This Land is our Land

This is what I wrote to my MP:

I have learned about shocking government plans to sell off England's forests.
Professionals working for the Forestry Commision have informed me that whenever land is sold off it does not save money because private landowners can fell timber and then apply for public funding to plant more trees. Not only does this negate the profit generated from selling the land, but an important income stream generated by selling timber is lost.
The Forestry Commission run valuable education programmes, support the creation of sustainable fuel sources, perform research into tree diseases and pests and contribute towards reducing carbon emissions for the future. This important work will be put at risk by government plans. Efficiencies of scale would also be lost if the work was to be taken on by a host of private contractors and laboratories.
There is the risk that private firms will be allowed to inappropriately develop or fell ancient forest, depriving English wildlife of valuable habitats and the public of valuable recreational access to woodland. A valuable opportunity to sustainably manage the biodiversity of English forests for the benefit of recreation, wildlife and future generations will be lost forever.
I'm involved with a variety of local conservation and wildlife groups who are opposed to the plans, and this weekend campaigners at 38 Degrees presented an opinion poll which showed that 85% of people are in favour of our forests staying in public hands for future generations.
Do you agree with the majority view on this issue? Will you promise to speak out and vote against the sell-off?
I also want you to fight to keep public access to forests as it is, and to protect the diverse wildlife of English forests.
I look forward to hearing from you.