Trees are emotive, as the furore over the Toby Carvery oak and the Sycamore gap prove. But a political obsession with planting trees is getting in the way of proper maintenance of our ancient woodland, says David Cracknell

It was last week’s row over the Toby Carvery oak that got me thinking again about the persistent misunderstandings that cloud our relationship with trees in this country. The outrage was swift and emotional, much like it was following the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree last year.

These controversies stir something deep in the British public: trees carry symbolism, myth, memory and place. But they also reveal how wildly disconnected our public conversation has become from the ecological realities of woodland management.

There is a failure – not just among the public, but policymakers, commentators and even some arborists – to grasp a few basic facts about how trees live, die and regenerate. Until we address this, our woodland policy will continue to falter, no matter how many trees we plant.

Because the truth is: we don’t just need more trees. We need to understand, protect, and rejuvenate the ancient and native forests we already have. Less than a quarter of forests in England are under sustainable management. The political obsession with planting – especially large-scale plantations of fast-growing, non-native species – is........

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