The Sunday Times and the Woodland Trust needs 100.000 volunteers to plan...

Too far away for me, I'm afraid, but what a terrific project! I do hope that lots of people join in and make it a success.

And, yes, I do hug trees!

Sounds wonderful Arlene - I'm not volunteering though, it reminds me of when we set our 1500 - they were only whips except for the corsican pines and larch - they were in pots. We had a good method going though and I got the best job of putting the whip in place while husband used the spade. We were told of a good technique though - cut a "H".

Fabulous blog Arlene.It would be a wonderful project for schools to become involved in too....a great way for them to learn about our countryside.Will spread the word at work....some have connections in south....oh its Jane tonight !

I have done this with our last village conservation , it,s very satisfying to see the mature trees as I pass that way now .
Sorry I shan,t be there Arlene but I wish you well for the day and hope you get as many trees planted as possible :o)

~ a bit more on this
The Times 50 Oct 2008

The symbolic cutting of a barbed wire fence last week marked the first step in the creation of Britain’s newest forest: an 860-acre site in Hertfordshire to be planted with 600,000 native woodland trees.

The Woodland Trust charity has now completed the purchase of the land for the forest at Sandridge, near St Albans. Part of it will be named The Sunday Times Wood, and readers have already donated money for more than 1,800 trees - enough to cover three acres.

Five hundred years ago, another oak on the site played its own role in English history. It was here, during the second battle of St Albans in 1461, that King Henry VI is reputed to have been held prisoner under a tree by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the legendary “kingmaker” of the wars of the roses.

Archeologists will be watching the planting of the wood for any relics that are turned up. Warwick the Kingmaker, after a rare defeat, led his Yorkist troops in a retreat across the site of the Sunday Times wood.

Simon West, district archeologist with the Verulamium Museum in St Albans, said: “Much of the weaponry, such as swords and arrows, would have been collected up as spoils of war by the victors and what was left would have been scavenged by local peasants who recycled or sold them.

“But there is every chance of finding things such as daggers, buttons and smaller items like garter hooks.”

Work on the forest can now start in earnest. A new stile was erected last week where the wire was cut to open a footpath along the edge of the land, giving open access for the first time in many years.

One of the first to walk the path was Jean McCann, a conservationist, who described it as a “momentous” day. “The forest will be a marvellous thing,” she said, “teeming with wildlife, and the joy is that it will not be run as a commercial asset but as an asset for everyone to enjoy.

“Sunday Times readers should be thanked and congratulated for their enthusiastic support of the project – their involvement tells the country just how important this is.”

The land, most of which is currently used for cereal crops, will be surveyed over the coming weeks before the first tree is planted later this year.

From tomorrow, however, internet users can also enjoy the atmosphere at Sandridge. The trust is planning to release a podcast that can be used by visitors as an audio guide.

As it develops, the forest will become a haven for rare wildlife and will eventually be as large as Sherwood Forest and Regent’s Park combined.

Andrew Reid, a solicitor who previously owned much of the land, said: “We are extremely pleased the land is to be used for the forest and will be protected and looked after.”

Woodland Trust info

We are pleased with the way fundraising for the site has gone at Sandridge (now called Heartwood Forest) and, on the back of this, we have gone ahead and purchased the site.

However, there is still a long way to go to raise all the funds required to plant and manage the site, so we are still urgently appealing for help to realise our ambition of creating the largest new native forest in England.

Public access is now available on 170 acres of the site - please download the map to see the areas that you can visit.

http://www.woodland-trust.org.uk/appeals/index.htm

Fabulous project.
Thanks for giving all this information :o)

Near here I've seen two woods up for sale. I wonder who'll buy them and what will be their fate ?
I think it's a great project but too far from here.

This is a wonderful project Arlene. We hope it is well supported and a huge success.Thank you for sharing the details with us.
All best wishes.

What an inspiring project. Wish I lived nearer - too far for me and my trike! Hope all goes well with the planting.

Wonderful Project Arlene, and Im sure that it will be a great success. Thankyou for passing on the details...A brilliant enviromental project

~ hi everyone~
I have donated my £15 online and expect to get all the info/certificate etc in the post ~I am not sure whether they will give you the opportunity to go and plant your little tree yourself~I believe that is possible~if that is the case I will try to go when we are on one of our planned trips to Kew/Wisley etc in Feb and March and will of course take photos whilst there. However if they are organising specific dates it may not be quite so easy to go.More info to follow!

I wish I could come and help. But just a touch too far for me to go. It sounds like a great project. We are losing so many forests all over the world. It would be great to be involved with putting something back.

Wow thank you for this blog. I'm going to check whether you can plant when you choose or whether there are specific dates and then see if I can go. What a great thing to say you helped create, I love it!

More from the Woodland Trust

Why support this campaign to plant England‘s largest new native forest, when there are so many worthy causes?
Well, trees and woodland are crucial to life on our planet. They generate oxygen for us to breathe, store carbon, provide homes to a spectacular variety of wildlife, provide us with raw materials and help stabilise the soil.
They offer us quiet places to relax within in the increasingly hectic modern world.
A world without trees and woodland would be barren, impoverished and intolerable. Yet the simple fact is that the UK is one of the least wooded places in Europe and ancient woodlands (like the four remnants on this site) now make up only 2% of our UK land cover.
During the last century, 46 of our woodland species have disappeared and a further 78 are endangered.
Ancient woodland is our equivalent of the rainforests - once lost, it is irreplaceable.
Added to all the development pressures, the Woodland Trust believes that climate change is the single largest threat to ancient woodland. In their current state, small isolated woods are simply not sustainable in a time of rapid environmental change.
Large sites (like the 858 acre site in question), if in a favourable condition, are far more robust for our wildlife in the face of climate change.
In addition, this largescale woodland creation project would contribute to the English national target of the
Native Woodland Habitat Action Plan to ’expand the area of native broadleaved woodland by 26,000 ha by 2010 through … creating native woodland on ex-agricultural land.‘
We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform the site into a flourishing forest for the future.
Please support our campaign

Great thing to do, but like most live to far away, but hope everything goes well.

Hi, what a super blog. All very interesting stuff. It is too far away for me. But wish all involved every success.

In my part of Yorkshire, we have odd remnants of the ancient Sherwood Forest left, (It did cover a really huge area) there are some very lovely old trees, but I think it is a great idea to plant new ones for future generations to enjoy.

Will have a look at the Woodland Trust site. Thank you Marge.

This is for Eileen!
This is from the BBC

It's an unheard-of gift - but one that will preserve ancient woodlands outside Londonderry for centuries to come.

An "anonymous Canadian tree enthusiast" has donated £150,000 to the Woodland Trust to purchase a 58-acre site between Oaks Wood and Ervey Wood at Burntollet near Derry.

The site - which has already been named Burntollet Wood - is to be planted with thousands of trees to link existing woodlands.

It will also create a buffer zone to protect local flora and fauna, which include the endangered red squirrel.

Gregor Fulton from the Woodland Trust explained that the area had always been wooded.

"The earliest maps we have date from the 16th century, and the area is marked as woodland on those maps," he said.

We want local people to have a sense of ownership of the woods
Gregor Fulton
Woodland Trust
"Obviously woodlands are now rarer, and need more protection.

"This money will allow us to create a buffer zone along the edges of the ancient woodland which will protect the woodland and the species in it.

"Fauna like the red squirrel will now have a larger area to inhabit, and will move into the new woods straight away," said Mr Fulton.

"Flora is a different matter, it can take centuries to encroach into a new area, but now we've got centuries.

"Once these trees are planted, they will be there forever," he said.

Map of woods outside Derry
Burntollet Wood will link Oaks Wood to Ervey Wood

The charity aims to plant 38,000 native trees, mainly oak, on the Burntollet site.

The new land will also make it easier for the public to access the woods.

"We will add another kilometre in pathways, and open up more viewpoints through the valley," said Mr Fulton.

"This is an area that isn't as well-recognised as it should be, and we hope that this will change with better access," he said.

The Woodland Trust is to hold a public meeting on its plans for Burntollet Wood on 29 January at the RAPID offices, Brackfield Bawn, Foreglen Road, Killaloo.

"All our woodlands are community woodlands, and we want local people to have a sense of ownership of the woods.

"It's not just up to us to create what we want for the woods - we want people to have their say, especially the people who live next to it, and we will take everybody's ideas on board," he said.

thanks Arlene, Derry is about a 2 and a half hr drive from where i live. great what they are doing up there there.

Found it Arlene...fantastic wonderful work

A very worthwhile enterprise, Arlene. Looks like they have a good thing going... One Question: there are very few truly old forests in existence...and they are constantly threatened by developers and urban sprawl...Who will be the safeguards of the future? I hope that those developing this worthy project have given thought to 50 or 60 years down the way...when property values will be even higher than they are now...and social needs greater too...is this protected by a charter, for instance? will the public rights be protected by law?

I'm not sure Lori but once I get some information from The Woodland Trust~I have just joined as a member~I will be sure to look into that~I would hope they put safeguards in place!

If I am able to go and plant a tree or two I know the area fairly well My daughter did her PHD in Watford for three years which is just down the road so to speak~there is this lovely nursery we used to visit so could be a nice weekend away!.