Burrator Forest, a 353-hectare woodland beside Burrator Reservoir on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, is becoming a strong example of practical woodland care in a shared rural setting. The Devon site is owned by South West Water and managed by the charity South West Lakes Trust, and its mix of habitats supports both native and non-native species. It also sits inside a much bigger estate. South West Lakes Trust manages more than 50 sites across south-west England, which means Burrator is not an isolated problem but part of a wider test of how water, wildlife, recreation and farming can work side by side.

That balance is hardest to hold at the boundary. Local people have common grazing rights on the moor, and there is no uninterrupted barrier between that land and the woodland managed by the Trust. When visitors leave gates open, or fencing is damaged or cut, livestock from the moor and nearby farms can drift into the forest. Accessible gates and stiles are in place, but the Burrator case study shows a familiar problem on busy countryside sites: if access points are not where people expect them to be, some will make their own route. In woodland terms, a small breach can quickly become an expensive one.

South West Lakes Trust says the cost is already visible. Between 2024 and 2025, Burrator Forest lost around £5,500 worth of conifer trees to livestock grazing over an 18-month period. Young trees are especially vulnerable because repeated browsing does not just slow growth; it can distort shape, weaken structure and wipe out planting before it has a chance to establish. The Trust had planted those trees without guards because it tries not to use them unless there is a clear need. That reduces material use and avoids adding more plastic or mesh to the site, but it left the crop exposed once animals got through. Staff also found that getting ponies back out of dense woodland was slow, physical work.

The first fixes are simple, but they still matter. The Trust has begun fitting self-closing mechanisms to existing gates at Burrator and plans to use them more widely, while volunteers now patrol fence lines and carry out regular audits. On a site with heavy public use, prevention can be more effective than repeated repair. Even so, the bills are significant. Across the Trust’s estate, annual fencing maintenance costs run into the hundreds of thousands of pounds. That figure underlines why woodland protection cannot rely on replacement fencing alone, especially where public access and grazing rights are both part of daily life.

This is where technology is starting to shift the picture. Through the Water Industry National Environment Programme, South West Water is working with tenant farmers to trial Nofence collars, GPS-enabled units that create virtual boundaries for cattle. Fifty collars were fitted in 2024 without any reported problems, which was enough to justify buying another 50 the following year. The more useful result may be the data rather than the collar itself. Managers are now analysing where cattle prefer to graze and the times of day they are most active, building a clearer picture of pressure points across the site. That opens the door to smaller, carefully placed enclosures around young trees and other sensitive areas, rather than trying to shut cattle out of the whole forest.

For woodland budgets, that is a meaningful change. Protecting the places that are most vulnerable can be cheaper, tidier and more workable than drawing harder lines around an entire site. It is also a better fit for land that has to serve more than one purpose at once, from habitat protection to farming and public access. Browsing pressure does not stop with cattle. South West Lakes Trust works with Artemis Land Management Services on deer surveys and control work, including extra fencing and selective culling where needed. Artemis also helps maintain a regular presence on site, which is useful in woods where damage can build gradually before it is spotted.

Grey squirrels present a different type of risk because bark stripping can reduce the value of commercial stock long before harvest. The Trust says its squirrel management plans are still being developed with Artemis, British Red Squirrel and other local conservation groups, showing that even familiar woodland problems still need local evidence and cooperation. There is also a workforce benefit here. By training people to take part in surveys and practical woodland work, the Trust is building rural skills alongside habitat protection. That matters because long-term forestry success depends as much on people with field knowledge as it does on any single tool or contract.

Some of the most promising ideas are low-tech. The Trust plans to trial sheep’s fleece mulch mats around individual trees to deter deer and smaller mammals such as voles, building on farm experience that raw fleece can help protect young planting. Away from the farm gate, though, fleece and other animal by-products have to be treated and licensed before they can be used more widely. Managers have also noticed that busier areas tend to keep deer away, while sheep grazing nearby can reduce browsing damage in adjoining woods. At other South West Lakes Trust sites, Eurasian beavers have proved unexpectedly useful too, controlling willow through browsing, cutting the need for some thinning work around reservoirs and helping keep access clearer for anglers. Taken together, Burrator’s approach is refreshingly clear-eyed: test what works, keep the evidence close and spend money where it will make the biggest difference.