Help grow a greener future

28 April 2009

The small act of donating to 'Plant a tree' will make a big impact for UK woodland.

At a time when the natural environment is under threat, why not make a difference and help to be part of one of the biggest planting schemes across the UK, giving people the chance to make a big impact for UK woodland from the small act of donating to the scheme.

Native woodland is essential for wildlife, to help people keep fit and to access the wonders of the natural world. The Woodland Trust is creating new native woodland on an unprecedented scale, planting nearly a million trees at five sites across the UK.

The small act of donating will have a big impact on the lives of people, on wildlife and for UK woodland. It takes just 12 years for new woodland to grow from bare land to be turned into a wooded landscape to walk in and enjoy, creating a better environment for future generations.

Fran Hitchinson conservation officer at the Woodland Trust commented: "The 'Plant a tree' appeal will help the Woodland Trust plant over a million trees at five key sites across the UK, with others to come in the future. The sites will buffer ancient woodland, protecting these valuable irreplaceable sites - the UK's equivalent of the rainforest- thereby increasing their ecological resilience and making these five sites stepping stones between habitats."

The Trust's huge record breaking 858 acre Heartwood Forest woodland creation site near St Albans will buffer three ancient woodlands allowing wildlife to move and thrive, and at Low Burnhall in Durham the Trust will plant 80,000 trees to help conserve precious ancient woodland and create wildflower meadows. Milton woods at the gateway to the Scottish Highlands in Stirling, Scotland will see over 180,000 trees planted creating vital wildlife havens and securing homes for otters, owls and wading birds.

In Northern Ireland at Burntollet Wood in Londonderry the new wood will adjoin ancient woodland providing a natural habitat for buzzards, otters and even endangered red squirrels. And in the Usk Valley in Wales, 11,000 trees will be planted at the beautiful Cefn Ila, linking ancient woods together and creating new wildlife habitats.

Ancient woodland is the UK's equivalent of the rainforest, home to more species than any other habitat and needs protecting. Green spaces are valuable for people's health, wellbeing and lifestyle and these woodland creation sites represent the Trust's ambition to create woodland that is freely accessible for people across the UK.

By donating to the 'plant a tree' scheme you will enable the Trust to plant a native tree at one of the sites and nurse it to maturity over 12 years. In return we'll email you regular updates on the sites, send you pictures as they develop over the next 12 years and we'll invite you to come and plant trees with us and for other events.

So visit www.plantatree.org.uk donate £15, plant a tree, invite friends or family to come to a planting event with you and help make a tangible difference today and for many years to come.

10 Facts about woods and ancient woodland:

1. Ancient woodland is woodland that has been continuously wooded since 1600, but many have been in existence since the last Ice Age

2. Ancient woodland covers only 2 per cent of Great Britain

3. Ancient woodland is home to more rare and threatened species than any other UK habitat

4. Wildwood covered almost all of the UK after the Ice Age

5. Deforestation accounts for 17 per cent of total global carbon emissions, more than transport

6. The UK is one of the least wooded countries in Europe, less than 12 per cent compared with the European average of 46 per cent

7. By cooling the air and ground around them, the shade from trees helps cool the earths temperature

8. In the last 100 years, 46 broadleaved woodland species have become extinct in the UK

9. We have around 50 species of native trees and shrubs, including three conifers, in the UK

10. In 1980, native species accounted for only five per cent of trees planted in the UK. "Every new tree planted in the right place is a good tree. The Woodland Trust is intent on doubling native woodland cover in the UK."

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