Forest of Dean areas but the focus has been to capitalise on the scenery and to create jobs from tourist attractions and the leisure sector. Significant numbers of residents work outside the area, commuting to Gloucester, Cheltenham, Bristol, Newport and Cardiff. For hundreds of years, mining in the Forest of Dean Coalfield has been regulated through a system of freemining. This, and other forms of self-governance, coupled with the Forest's geographic isolation between the rivers Severn and Wye, has given rise to a strong sense of cultural identity in those from the area, who are collectively known as 'Foresters'. The ancient rights were
Forest of Dean Central Railway Thereafter, the railway continued to function to Howbeach with three goods trains a week. The coal strike of 1921 finished off Howbeach Colliery and traffic ceased beyond Blakeney about this time; the track beyond Blakeney remained in position, but was removed in 1942. Because of the lease, the line had long been simply a quiet mineral branch line of the Great Western Railway; the Forest of Dean Central Railway owned the line but took no involvement in operating it, and the huge indebtedness meant that there was no dividend distribution. After World War I the Government determined that the railways