National Trust planting 800 football pitches worth of woodlands over winter
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The National Trust is planting new woodlands across land in England equivalent to 800 football pitches this winter in partnership with local forest experts. The charity said almost 416,000 trees will be planted by the end of March, creating 519 hectares (1,282 acres) of woody habitats, wood pasture, hedgerows and orchards.
England’s Community Forests, a network of 15 expert groups, is supporting the work with £7.1 million under its Trees for Climate programme, which is funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). It comes as part of wider efforts to tackle climate change, boost nature and provide accessible woods to communities living in towns and cities.
A total of 20 planting projects are taking place on land mainly cared for by the National Trust in counties such as Devon, Gloucestershire and Yorkshire. Lunt in Sefton, Merseyside, hosts the largest project, where work is under way to plant a nearly 93,000 trees across 78 hectares (192.7 acres) after the National Trust bought the land from the local council.
John Deakin, the National Trust’s head of trees and woodland, said: “We’ve found lots of natural synergy with the Community Forests in the way we approach woodland and tree establishment to give maximum value for people, nature and climate. “Trees are our most powerful tool in locking up carbon and mitigating climate change.
