FORESTERS are implementing plans to protect priceless artefacts in Lydford Forest.
A Forestry Commission team is targeting three sites in their scheme which between them cover thousands of years of county history.
A medieval tin extraction site is the most recent addition to the landscape in the woods.
Next comes an Iron Age hill fort then there is a type of late pre-historic oval enclosure of which there are around only 30 other examples in Britain.
Area forester Martin Webb said: 'We've agreed management plans for the sites with archaeological experts from English Heritage.
'They include keeping the monuments free of any vegetation which might damage the structures.
Our aim is to preserve the artefacts for future generations to enjoy and learn from.'
Mr Webb said the tin extraction site would have been an environmental disaster area when it was in use.
It involved miners cutting two channels parallel to the River Lyd. They then dug out trenches between the two at right angles.
River water was then sluiced through the system to reveal the tin — a result was to wash arsenic from the soil straight into the water-course.
The existence of the 600-metre-long mining site was revealed in 1947 by aerial photographs taken by the RAF.
Nearby, in the 150-hectare (371-acre) forest at South Longridge is the Iron Age hill fort. The remains of a medieval settlement built on the same site can still be seen.
Anyone wanting information about visiting the woods should telephone 01392 832262.