38 Degrees members meet the forests panel

Photograph by 38 Degrees

On Friday, 38 Degrees members gathered in Bedgebury forest to meet with the government’s forests panel. Over 30 38 Degrees members handed in a petition of over 39,000 signatures. One member even cycled 25 miles from Tonbridge Wells to come and meet the panel!

The forests panel were left in no doubt of what 38 Degrees members wanted for our forests:

• public ownership
• keeping forests accessible for all
• protecting the diversity of wildlife and plants that live in them. The priorities printed on placards meant that our message to the panel was clear: protect our forests!

The panel were really pleased to see so much support and such a turn-out for the meeting. Dr Mike Clarke, a member of the panel, said that they were impressed by the enthusiasm of 38 Degrees and the articulate comments that they’ve received.

Lots of members made new friends and there was talk of starting a local group around Bedgebury forest.

Over the last few weeks, members have been organising events in local forests up and down the country. We’ve been going on bike rides, walks and taking photos to show how much the forests mean to us. Volunteers in the 38 Degrees office have collected together the photos from these trips to hand over to the forest panel. We even took a massive banner covered in some of these photos to show the huge people-powered support for the campaign.

The panel is now working on an autumn Progress Report which will be ready in the next few months.

You can see more photos on the 38 Degrees Flickr account here.

Photograph by 38 Degrees

Photograph by 38 Degrees