Mapping the current and potential extent of wet woodland in England to support conservation and restoration

Wet woodlands are ecologically important habitats that provide multiple benefits including flood mitigation, biodiversity support, and carbon storage, but are difficult to map due to their fragmented and hydrologically constrained nature. This dataset provides two national layers for England: (i) a 10 m resolution map of current wet woodland extent, and (ii) a 50 m resolution map of environmental suitability for wet woodland establishment. The extent map was generated using a machine learning model (XGBoost) trained on satellite-derived embeddings, LiDAR-based terrain and canopy structure, and peat probability, with spatial cross-validation. The suitability layer was produced using a presence-background Maximum Entropy model based on environmental predictors including topography, wetness, substrate, soil moisture, and proximity to water. The model was trained and validated against 92 wet woodland reference sites distributed across England, captured as point locations within known wet woodland stands and provided in the accompanying wetwoodlands.kml file. The mapping identifies ~201,750 ha of wet woodland (~8.4% of forest cover), predominantly on non-peat substrates (95%). Wet woodland is highly fragmented into ~674,763 patches (median 0.08 ha), with most patches smaller than 5 ha. Suitability modelling indicates substantial potential for expansion beyond the current extent. These layers support national-scale identification of wet woodland, targeting of restoration opportunities, and integration of nature-based solutions into land-use planning.