The Woodland Trust

I have been contacted by Suzie Harvey, one of our walkers, regarding some voluntary work that she is doing for the Woodland Trust.

You may already be familiar with the Woodland Trust as the largest woodland conservation charity in the UK; they work towards making our country rich in native woods and trees, for people and for wildlife. The work Suzie is doing is supporting their development of a Tree Charter.

To give you some background, there was an attempt by the government in 2010 to sell off some of the Public Forest, which contains a large part of the forest accessible to the general public. This was thwarted by a large public response and a petition signed by 0.5 million people. It is also surprising that currently only 2% of the small amount of remaining ancient woodland in the UK has been granted immunity from development. So in 2015 the Woodland Trust, together with over 50 other organisations across conservation, environmental, business and social sectors, have come together to develop a Charter for Woods, Trees and People, to bring woods and trees back in peoples’ consciousness and political decision-making in the UK.

Suzie has agreed to help support this work by volunteering to collect stories from people about what trees and woods mean to them. She would be very grateful if you would contribute any good stories about your experiences with woodlands and trees. You can add your story directly to the website and see what others have written here.