The Woodland Trust

Woodland Trust is the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity.  Our vision is a UK rich in woods and trees, for people and wildlife. 

We bring trees and people together to drive this vision forward – we can’t achieve it on our own!

Find out more about our work to connect communities, local authorities, partners and organisations to plant, protect and celebrate woods and trees in towns and cities and how you can get involved below.

Planting Street Trees in Northampton – Save our Street Trees Northampton 

Find out how local resident, Alice Whitehead, has successfully worked with her neighbours, Council, local businesses and the Woodland Trust to plant the first street trees in Northampton in more than 50years.

Wakefield Tree Wardens - working with trees – it’s a people thing

Find out how Woodland Trust volunteer Roger Parkinson engages Wakefield communities, partners and organisations in all aspects of tree planting, care, protection and management.

Learn more from Roger at the following Urban Tree Festival events: 

Saturday 15th May at Improving Brownfield Sites

Thursday 20th May at Connecting People with Trees, and Growing Trees from Seed

The Tree Charter 

The Tree Charter is a national movement for woods, trees and people.  Over 650 community groups, local councils and student groups across the UK are part of a UK network of diverse groups who are taking action for woods and trees in their local communities.  You can find out more about them here: Tree Charter 

We work with Charter Branch groups in urban areas in a wide range of ways, including:

• Supporting local campaigns – including through access to advice and information - Campaign in Your Community - Woodland Trust

• Grant funding – to support a range of activity that is engaging people with nature in urban areas, for example through the arts and heritage.

• Access to free trees – through Woodland Trust’s Free Trees for Schools and Communities - Woodland Trust

• Access to campaign materials and a range of Woodland Trust activities, webinars and events, including the Annual Tree Charter Day celebration and campaigns such as The Big Climate Fightback - Woodland Trust

By joining the Charter Branch network, community groups become part of a national movement that together has a collective and greater impact for woods, trees and people.

Citizen Science 

Nature’s Calendar

Do you regularly pass an urban tree? Perhaps on your way to work, school or your local shop, when out for a jog or walking your dog? If you do, why not take just a minute, each time you pass, to notice the seasonal changes: the buds bursting, leaves opening, flowers blooming, leaves tinting and falling to the ground leaving the tree bare? By simply noting when these seasonal events happen to your chosen tree, you can help scientists discover how climate change is affecting timings in nature. 

Find out why this matters and how to take part in the Nature’s Calendar citizen science project: https://naturescalendar.woodlandtrust.org.uk/. 

Download our handy calendar to see the full list of trees that you can record for the project and when you can expect to see each seasonal event happening: https://naturescalendar.woodlandtrust.org.uk/media/1817/10103-natures-calendar-date-range-poster.pdf”

Nature’s Calendar is Supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

Ancient Tree Inventory 

The Ancient Tree Inventory (ATI) is a citizen science project that maps the locations of ancient, veteran and notable trees across the UK. By mapping the locations of these special trees, we can help to showcase the value and importance of these living ecosystems across our towns and cities. Ancient and veteran trees are natural monuments that bring a wealth of habitats and have irreplaceable heritage value; protecting them is very important. 

The Woodland Trust’s State of Woods and Trees report recently showed that nearly 11% of ancient and veteran trees that have been recorded to the ATI are within urban areas or next to roadsides. However, urban areas may have been under-recorded by citizen scientists in the past, and so there could be many more special urban trees that have not yet been recorded. 

As well as documenting the value of ancient and veteran trees in urban areas, the ATI can also help us to learn more about trees under threat e.g. from development. Natural England’s standing advice and the National Planning Policy Framework advise developers against the loss or damage to irreplaceable habitats – including ancient and veteran trees – and so the ATI can be used as a consultation tool that helps to plan for their conservation as early as possible. The ATI can also help our campaigns team respond to cases where ancient and veteran trees are threatened as a result of development. 

For information about the ATI please visit https://ati.woodlandtrust.org.uk/ 

On the 18th May (1200) the Woodland Trust’s Citizen Science Officer – Tom Reed – will be giving a presentation about the ATI, with some examples of trees already recorded in urban areas and details on how you can help to record trees to the ATI. See Recording Ancient Trees.

From the Urban Tree Festival…

Woodland Trust have supported many of our most engaging events including those listed above, and also our highly popular Book Club events. We are particularly grateful to Woodland Trust Ambassadors Tracy Chevalier and Jonathan Drori for their Tree Stories: Heart, Mind and Soul event on 19th May.