HOOF's reaction to my proposal to take the Forest of Dean into a locally controlled trust was a bit lame.

I am not proposing this structure as a universal solution to the mess Defra got itself into four years ago. As Mr Harris says, the Forest of Dean is a unique case, and should be treated as such.

Insofar as money is necessary for control, then this devolves to finance. HOOF seems to ignore the realities of modern forest management. I don't blame HOOF. This is, after all, a specialist field.

The first consideration is the income which the forest generates from timber sales and all other normal sources of income generation available to a major timber and tourist resource.

Then take a look at expenditure. Scope here, I suggest. And how' s this for an idea?

At least some of the readers of this newspaper, and a small fraction of Mr Harris's 'myriad visitors' will be able to become members of a small charity, Friends of the Forest perhaps, for a small annual subscription – 100,000 members at £10 a year?

There's a million or so of new money straight away. Then there are events, sponsorships, all manner of modern ways of enjoying the unique ambience of the forest without spoiling its allure and of raising income.

All these happen elsewhere in the English countryside and attract paying participants and spectators.

The good old National Trust charges £5.80 for entry into my local Westbury Court Gardens.

The Woodland Trust raises £30 million a year from its members.   You will observe that I am not proposing that the trust sells off bits of the forest, so don't try to raise that old spectre again.

Twenty years ago I was a member of the team which set up the National Forest in Leicestershire. The Forestry Commission said it couldn't be done. Look at it now.

NHS staff went on strike for more pay. Will any government, of any persuasion, devote money to the Forest of Dean over paying for nurses? Of course not.

Anyway, what has any government ever run that has been a success? Why is forestry any different? 

Come on HOOF, come out of your shell, get imaginative, get energetic and constructive. The Forest is a major resource which is crying out for management. It can all happen, and we can do it. But not by negative and defensive attitudes.

I now volunteer to be the first 'Friend of the Forest' and have put £10 aside in an envelope on my desk ready for the day when HOOF actually does something, rather than moans.

– David Taylor  (past president, Chartered Institute of Foresters), Rodley.