Planting the right trees

A step-by-step ‘reforesting’ toolkit has been launched to help everyone wishing to plant trees in Devon, as part of efforts to tackle the climate emergency.

The ‘Right Place, Right Tree’ guide has been created by the Devon Local Nature Partnership (DLNP), which includes Devon’s councils, The Woodland Trust, Devon Wildlife Trust, all of Devon’s Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Dartmoor National Park.

Chair of the DLNP, Professor Michael Winter OBE said, “It is critical that we act now to expand our tree cover here in Devon. Planting trees is such a positive thing we can do in response to the biodiversity crisis and climate emergency. Our new guide will help people develop and implement their ideas

Devon youngsters planting for the future

for tree planting and woodland creation in an environmentally sensitive and creative way.”

Devon Wildlife Trust has just launched its ‘Saving Devon’s Treescapes’ project, aiming to plant a quarter of a million native species trees over the next four years, in part to combat recent losses to the devastating ash dieback disease. The charity received £758,600 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for community planting projects.

“We need to make sure that the right tree is established in the right place, using the right method, for the right reasons, and with the right aftercare,” said a spokesman for the nature partnership, warning that placing new trees in the wrong locations could unintentionally do more harm than good.

The guide is available free online: devonlnp.org.uk/take-action/right-placeright-tree/