Local people and visitors alike are drawn to the New Forest by the magic of its timeless landscape. But the landscape's not natural; it's been shaped by centuries of human intervention. William the Conqueror created the New Forest as a medieval deer hunting area in 1079. Centuries later, agreement between the Crown and local people meant the Crown grew timber for ship building and local people received rights, including the right for their ponies, cattle and donkeys to graze the Forest. These ancient ‘rights of common' led to a form of extensive farming - called commoning – that remains today. The people who farm the New Forest - called commoners – and their way of life have been uniquely unchanged for nearly a thousand years. And this combination of grazing by large animals and timber removal by man has created the characteristic New Forest landscape we know today, a landscape that is uniquely rich in rare wildlife habitats.

‘For centuries, the commoners have looked after the New Forest but now we need some help. We can't do it alone.' Richard Stride, Commoner

But, even with its newly acquired status as a national park, the traditional New Forest way of life is under increasing pressure: the reality of commoning is that - at best – it's a marginal economic activity; escalating house prices mean it's hard for young people to establish themselves in the traditional ways of life; and the millions who visit the Forest every year create enormous pressures on the environment they come to enjoy.

The Magic of the Landscape
Every year millions of people visit the New Forest, drawn by the magic of its landscape, a special combination of ancient and ornamental woodland, timber inclosures and heathland. The New Forest landscape is unique. That is why it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and now a National Park. There are also plans for it to become a World Heritage Site.

However, the landscape is not natural. It has been shaped by centuries of human intervention. It is the complex nature of that intervention today that conserves all the valued aspects of the New Forest.

Ancient Beginnings
Before William the Conqueror created the New Forest, it was inhabited by industrious people who lived off the Forest. They are known to have used the timber to fire kilns to make pots from local clays after the Romans arrived. Centuries later when the Royal Court no longer moved around the country, the Crown saw the Forest as the source of timber for ships to defend the nation. Because a significant part of the Forest was not inclosed for growing trees and local people exercised their ancient rights of common, much of it continued to regenerate in a near natural way lost in forests across Western Europe. Grazing by commoner's ponies, cattle and donkeys, a form of extensive farming, remains uniquely unchanged now for more than a thousand years. The New Forest is one of few places in Europe where grazing by large animals, cattle, ponies and deer, and timber removal by man has continued for so long, so forming a landscape not found anywhere else. Each of the New Forest animals contributes something different and important to maintaining the character of the forest and its rare wildlife habitats.

The 21st Century
Today, around 450 commoners - people occupying land that has common rights attached to it - are responsible for about 4000 to 5000 animals, mainly ponies, on the New Forest. Government support is limited – for ponies support is recent, and for cattle rearing it is geared towards good pasture not the rough grazing found in the New Forest. And it is expected to decline in future years. The economics of commoning are so fragile that even small changes make a big difference, possibly the difference between continuing and stopping. To preserve the New Forest we know and love, we must support commoners and the cultural tradition of commoning.

Many commoners earn a living from work in the woods. While rearing animals is a yearly activity and cut backs are immediately effective there is a greater problem if woodland work is also curtailed. There is a real and current threat that the two key skills that support conservation of the New Forest will be lost.