Independent advisers appointed by the government say England's publicly owned forest estate is a national asset and should not be sold off.
In its final report to ministers, the panel added that woodlands could help "drive a sustainable economic revival".
The panel was set up in March 2011 after a ministerial U-turn on plans to sell off a chunk of its woodlands.
The government says it accepts the recommendation and will halt plans to sell-off state-owned forests.
At the time, more than half-a-million people signed an online petition to protest against the policy.
The Independent Forestry Panel - headed by the Right Reverend James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool - published its final report on Wednesday.
'New culture needed'
The panel said it had received more than 42,000 responses from individuals and organisations regarding the future of England's forests.
"We need a new culture of thinking and action around wood and woodlands," the Rt Rev Jones said in the report's foreword.
"[We need] a new way of valuing and managing the natural and social capital of our woodland resource, alongside the timber they contain."
Responding to the panel's findings, Woodland Trust policy director Hilary Allison said: "We are delighted that the Independent Panel on Forestry has unequivocally recommended... that the public forest should remain safe in public ownership.
"We now look to the government, as a matter of urgency, to confirm this."
Following the publication of the report, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) used its official Twitter feed to say that ministers had scrapped plans to sell off the forests.
Public-owned forests account for about 18% of England's woodlands.
There was widespread outrage and opposition when the government announced its intention to sell 258,000 hectares of state-owned woodlands.
Ministers faced criticism from a variety of well-known figures, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Annie Lennox and Dame Judy Dench.
As a result of the public backlash, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said that she had got it wrong and put the sale on hold.
Speaking back in February, she told MPs: "I'm sorry. We got this one wrong, but we have listened to people's concerns."
Campaigners had voiced concern that they did not think the panel's findings would deter ministers from going ahead with the sale.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18690019#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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