We're looking for new sites.....
Can You Help Us Please?
We're Looking For New Places To Plant Trees.
For some 13 years now, Treesponsibility has been working hard planting trees in the Upper Calder Valley. We're a small but happy band of people involving the local and wider community in a project to help increase our resilience to flooding in periods of heavy rainfall, and to help increase the levels of bio-diversity and overall beauty of our landscape.
We also have many other excellent reasons to plant trees. For instance, as our climate warms and we increasingly seek alternatives to burning fossil fuels as a major source of energy, burning wood grown specially for the purpose becomes an obvious choice to make. In recent years, in partnership with "White Rose Forest", and with funding from the Forestry Commission, we have been planting "coppice woodland" for some of our land owners, enabling them to have their own source of renewable energy, free and on their own land.
We regularly work with schools too, as tree planting is an excellent way to help young children to become more connected with the countryside. We use our time with them to help them gain a better understanding about the world on their doorstep that many of them have never experienced. They plant trees, take woodland walks, make rope bridges and cook popcorn outdoors amonst many other activities.
In order for us to be able to do this we rely on a steady flow of people willing to offer us a piece of land to plant on. There is usually no cost to the land owner other than to pay for fencing to prevent sheep or deer from grazing the young trees, but there can be many benefits. Land owners can, as previously mentioned, have a never ending supply of free firewood on their doorstep. Or they might help prevent land slips and soil erosion on vunerable parts of their land. They will certainly increase bio diversity on their property, and will also be helping to educate the next generation about the value of the countryside.
If you think you may have a piece of land you might like to consider having trees planted on, or you know someone else who might, we would love to hear from you. Here are the sorts of things we look for in a potential site:-
For flood prevention we want to
plant trees on the steep valley sides, where in periods of heavy
rainfall they will slow down the flow of water running into the
river systems.
For coppicing it's up to you. A
piece of land close to home and easily accesible is obviously
ideal, but if you have the means to extract wood from more
inaccessicble parts of your land, we can plant them for you.
For schools we need more accessible sites, fairly even and not too steep. If there's some shelter available, such as a barn or house so much the better, but it's not essential as we can provide shelter on site.
All potential sites are checked by independant wildlife conservation experts before any tree planting can take place, to ensure that essential habitats and rare species are protected.
Treesponsibility is a not for profit organisation, whose members believe in taking responsibility for protecting the environment, whist informing people about the importance of connectedness to the land. You can contact us by:-
email at treesponsibility@yahoo.co.uk
or by phoning 01422 649811