Woodland Trust Buys Land to Plant 600,000 Trees
The woodland trust has purchased a 800 acre site to plant 600,000 trees to create a natural forest in England.
The forest to be based in st Albans in Hertfordshire would create the largest continuous native forest in England. The woodland trust say planting trees like this has never been done in England and would be ready in about 12 years.
Much of the UK’s natural forests have been eroded by developers and house builders over the past 100 years so this is to rebalance the UK tree population.
The woodland trust’s website also has two other opportunities to develop UK forests and are asking for donations. The first is 250 acres of arable fields and ancient woodland near Colchester in Essex and the second is 168 acres of arable land and ancient woodland just two miles from the centre of historic Durham. It’s a shame the government doesn’t divert some of the huge spending into this important conservation project.
Justine Whittern at the Woodland Trust said,
July 28, 2008 @ 2:17 pm
Here at the Woodland Trust, we think this is great news - we’re really excited about it, but we haven’t yet bought the Hertfordshire site. The Trust has an ambitious and vigorous fundraising campaign on its website and elsewhere to raise the £8.5 million needed to complete the purchase of the land near Sandridge in Herts by the end of September. This target is part of our biggest ever appeal for the three big new sites in Herts, Essex and Co Durham and will cover the first five years of woodland creation.
admin said,
July 28, 2008 @ 4:58 pm
Hi Justine - that really is great news - are you going to TV or on the news to promote your funding efforts or just rely on website donations ?
Justine Whittern said,
August 7, 2008 @ 4:28 pm
Thanks admin! We were on national and local TV and radio bulletins on Monday 28th July when the news broke, and subsequently in all the major national newspapers.
The Woodland Trust has an appeal website (www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/appeals) and there’s a big fundraising splash going in this weekend’s Sunday Times (Sunday 10 August). There’ll be other fundraising drives online, in press and on radio until the site is secured - and then we continue fundraising for the rest of the Trust’s activities..