NATIONAL park authority (ENPA) members will next week decide whether to enter a partnership to create an Atlantic rainforest on Exmoor.

The authority is being recommended to partner with Somerset Wildlife Trust (SWT) as part of its response to ‘nature and climate crises’.

It already works to encourage woodland expansion and increase canopy cover and management of existing trees and woodland to ensure resilient wooded landscapes on Exmoor.

Now, ENPA head of climate, nature and communities Clare Reid is recommending members at a meeting on Tuesday (October 1) to work with SWT and insurance giant Aviva, which is investing £38million to help restore lost temperate rainforests in Britain.

Temperate rainforests are rare and thought to be more threatened than tropical rainforest.

Ms Reid said the Aviva Atlantic Rainforest Programme was funding land acquisitions through county wildlife trusts, something which could apply to both the Devon and Somerset parts of Exmoor.

She said SWT tried earlier this year to buy nearly 300 aces of land near Simonsbath for temperate rainforest creation supported by the Aviva programme and asked for ENPA help because it did not have an operational presence on Exmoor nor the necessary woodland expertise.

The bid failed but interest continued in SWT and ENPA working together on a future scheme to create a new Atlantic Rainforest on Exmoor.

Ms Reid said the Aviva/SWT programme was the most likely route for acquisition involving the park authority, but other organisations such as the Forestry Commission, Woodland Trust, and other private trusts might also want to partner with the ENPA.

She said the ENPA’s vision was to raise woodland cover on Exmoor from 14 to 17 per cent, an increase of more than 5,100 acres, by 2030.

Government-commissioned research showed an extra 17,000 acres of woodland was needed to help the national park achieve carbon net zero by 2050.

Ms Reid said: “The creation of a new woodland would contribute to climate mitigation through carbon sequestration, and potentially reducing run-off and flood-risk.

“Temperate rainforest is a distinctive habitat found in temperate coastal zones around the world but with very restricted range where precipitation and temperature combine to provide suitable conditions.

“The western Atlantic seaboard of the UK provides this ideal combination of ‘oceanic’ and ‘hyper-oceanic’ climate.

“The high central moorland of Exmoor lies within the hyper-oceanic climate zone.”

Ms Reid said any partnership with SWT would first see the two organisations agree the suitability of a site for woodland creation, and the trust would fund the purchase and own the land.

The authority and the trust would work together to create, monitor, and review a management plan for the site, including public access, and ENPA would lead on any applications for capital grants.

ENPA would seek to use local contractors and encourage skills training and apprenticeships for the woodland planting and land management.

Ms Reid recommended park members should continue to explore opportunities with organisations considering land acquisition for woodland creation, but any specific proposals to develop a partnership would be brought to them for approval.