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Welcome to BIHT

In an ideal world we might be able to choose our parents. Clearly, if we could, we would select complimentary characteristics in each parent and end up with a perfect balance of beauty, health, wisdom and happiness. With broadleaved trees, the world is very different, and we have not, up to recently, been very fussy about the origins of our primary seed sources. Some believe that our best hardwood trees and forests disappeared over the centuries and that we are left with little more than an exhausted genetic pool.

The British and Irish Hardwoods Trust (BIHT) aims to change all of this and to ensure that, in future, only progeny from superior parents that show outstanding characteristics are planted.
 

A key component of broadleaved tree production is the value placed on high quality stems and wood, and it is this aspect that BIHT focuses upon through its tree breeding activities.


 

Although there have been successful tree-planting programmes in Great Britain and Ireland over the last 100 years, we still have the lowest woodland cover in Europe, at 12% and 10% respectively. There is a need to increase the cover significantly, given the concern over climate change and the potential of trees, including broadleaved species to sequester carbon and enhance biodiversity.


 

Professor Jeff burley"I cannot over-emphasize the importance of British hardwoods in providing economic, environmental and social benefits to land owners, wood users and the population at large."
Professor Jeff Burley
Chairman, British and Irish Hardwoods Trust