Woodland Trust’s Tree for All campaign

• Apr. 19 by Katie Graczyk (0)

4,049,615 trees have been planted so far, and more will continue throughout the campaign.

Attempting to plant 12 million trees between the years of 2004-2009, The Woodland Trust created a big challenge, but already has been successful. They want to include one million children in the effort- from schools, community groups, public events or in their gardens.

Andy Beer, head of campaign development for the Trust says:

“Research shows that contact with woods and nature makes us feel better about ourselves. Because of modern lifestyles, many children are growing up with little connection with their natural environment.

Tree For All is inspiring young people to become future guardians of the natural environment and to encourage people to become more in touch with nature, increasing their understanding and enjoyment of woodland.

The simple act of planting a tree has the power to both restore our landscapes and inspire our children with a fresh love of nature and a determination to act on its behalf. We’d like to say a special thank you to everyone who has participated or supported the project so far.”

Other objectives outside of numbers include:

• Getting children out into the woods.  A survey done by the Woodland Trust said that “19% of families with children had not visited a wood in the last year”

• Aims to keep/maintain irreplaceable wildlife habitats and woods

• Help children and families appreciate and feel pride in these areas by getting involved

Several things are going on within The Woodland Trust’s “Tree for All” site, including opportunities to get involved with other kid/family/community oriented events. They offer free trees for schools to plant on school grounds (outside of event plantings), community grants for planting trees, and ancient tree hunts.

The next ancient tree hunt where participants “find and map all the old, fat trees across the UK” is happening April 30 at Shugborough Hall.  This topic is also mentioned on the UK Phenology website in their newsletter.

If you are aware of any other eco events or further kid/community/family activities going on please post a comment and I’ll add it to this or another article.

UPDATE**I’ve had a response to an email I sent to Chris Hickman, the assitant PR officer for The Woodland Trust.  He said that while the planting season/events for Tree for All are usually during Spring and Autumn, they do have a series of walks coming up at the end of May.  These will be in conjunction with National Family Week.  People can begin applying for hedge and copse packs for Autumn planting times.

He also attached a press release for their work on the Heartwood Forest site, where they are trying to plant more trees,  create wildflower meadows, and “lay miles of footpaths and bridleways.”  Other than that, there isn’t any further news he reported to me on Woodland Trust events, but keep checking their website!