Pressure on the New Forest has grown massively since first the railway came though it over 150 years ago, second retirement and holidays away from home became accepted as normal, and finally since the car and motorways put the it within easy reach of millions of people. This pressure is not unique. Another Royal Forest, Epping Forest, experienced the same sequence much earlier. It is about a tenth of the size of the New Forest but needs a budget ten times greater to maintain it. This money does not come from general taxation. Epping Forest, like many parks in and around London, is supported by the City of London.

Sadly, there is no similar potential supporter for the New Forest unless we create one. The demands in maintaining the New Forest are just as serious and growing. No doubt the City of London considered it a worthwhile investment for its citizens to have access to a quiet place of natural beauty. Those who believe the New Forest is, and should remain, a place of quiet natural beauty will lose it if they do not help contribute to a fund that will be spent directly in the Forest toward that end.