Forest Research: Open Access
Open Access

Geographical and Environmental Attractions of Sherwood Forest

Luciano Franca^{* *}Correspondence: Luciano Franca, Department of Forest Science, Federal University of Lavras (UFLA), Lavras, Brazil, Email:

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Description

Sherwood Woodland, a noble forest in Nottinghamshire, UK, is well-known for its long-standing connection to the Robin Hood tale. The area has been vegetated with trees since the end of the most recent glacial period. In order to stop non-point agricultural pollutants like nitrate from leaking into aquifers, land use transition between arable agriculture to forestry had gained attention in several European nations. However, a decrease in groundwater recharge under forested regions may make the water supply crisis worse. The amount of groundwater resources has not before been directly studied in the UK to determine the impact of growing forest cover.

In order to address this information gap, two public resource borehole sites here on unconfined Sherwood Sandstone aquifer in Nottinghamshire were chosen for the this original study implementation of a groundwater flow model (MODFLOW) along with a soil moisture balance recharge model to forecast the impact of a change in land use to forestry on groundwater recharge and levels by 2025. The development of land change scenarios with an emphasis on borehole capture zones. Due to a rise in woodland cover inside the borehole capture zones, the recharge estimates showed a loss of up to 45% in yearly recharge. At both borehole locations, the drop was more pronounced in the winter than in the summer.

However, because of the sandstone aquifer's great storage capacity, the sudden drop in groundwater table was very moderate. The simulated decline in groundwater table was less than 0.3 m, despite an increase in forest cover over the whole target zone. The analysis shows that a quantitative analysis using a modelling approach can help with better targeting of pollution control strategies that include changing land use to woodland, assisting decision-makers in balancing the anticipated improvements in groundwater levels while concurrently managing groundwater resources.

Every year, Sherwood welcomes over 350,000 visitors; many of them are from neighbouring nations. The natural reserve holds per week Robin Hood Festival in August. The main figures from of the Robin Hood tale are present at this event, which recreates a mediaeval setting. A mediaeval encampment with jesters, musicians, rat-catchers, alchemists, and fire eaters is also present, along with jousters and strolling performers costumed in mediaeval garb. The Sherwood Forest Art and Craft Centre located in the ancient coaches houses and stables of Edwinstowe Hall in the Forest's centre, draws tourists all year long. The facility has art studios, a cafe, and special events including craft exhibitions and demos.

Wet regions would become more humid as a result of changes in the world's precipitation patterns, and frequent occurrences of intense precipitation events would be followed by widespread floods. Because they are regularly exposed to brief flooding occurrences, riparian forests are more suited to endure floods than inland forests. Although the soil water dynamics of terrestrial forests have been the subject of several earlier research, little is understood about the way the soil water of riparian forests respond to various rainfall quantities and which elements primarily control the soil water-holding capacity.

Here, in the middle-lower sections, stable hydrogen isotope to explore the contribution of various rainfall amounts 7.9 mm, 18.6 mm, and 34.1 mm to the ground water in two types of riparian forests (pure vs. mixed stand of Populus deltoides). In order to assess the relative significance of soil characteristics and plant biomass in influencing how much different rainfall amounts contribute to soil water, we also employed structural equation modelling.