This briefing note introduces a new practice guide developed by FCS (now SF), SEPA, SNH and Confor to help land managers in identifying and assessing the risk woodland creation operations pose to Groundwater Dependent Terrestrial Ecosystems (GWDTE) and their related groundwater flows.

GWDTE are a category of wetlands, understood to be ecologically critically dependent upon groundwater. They derive their water supply primarily from a groundwater body, rather than deriving their water from rain and surface water saturated soils, and they can support biodiverse, botanically rich ground-flora communities.