Saving Devon’s Treescapes

 In Farming & land management, Nature & wildlife

Saving Devon's Treescapes logoA new initiative called Saving Devon’s Treescapes has started work this year to tackle the problems facing Devon’s treescapes. The project is led by Devon Wildlife Trust on behalf of the Devon Ash Dieback Resilience Forum and is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, as well as other funders. Blackdown Hills AONB is one of a number of partners involved in the project, with Neroche being one of the five focus areas.

Saving Devon’s Treescapes aims to provide hope and action in the face of the alarming changes that are already affecting our precious treescapes. The project will support local communities across the county to plant and nurture thousands of replacement trees.

The project has had a challenging start due to COVID-19 which has meant that some community events have been postponed, and sadly Devon County show – the first big event for Saving Devon’s Treescapes – has been cancelled.

However, plenty of work has been able to progress such as developing a Community Tree Nursery at Meeth Quarry Nature Reserve. This nursey will grow and nurture 5,000 free trees per annum which can later be planted by communities across Devon. Construction will be happening in the coming months with opportunities for volunteers available in late summer/autumn. The project will be looking to develop a further two community tree nurseries over the five years of the project.

Saving Devon’s Treescapes is also developing citizen science projects to record and monitor the locations and health of veteran and ancient trees across Devon. The project will also monitor key species such as brown hairstreak butterflies and lichens to help gain a deeper understanding of Devon’s treescapes. This information will be invaluable in understanding the impacts of ash dieback across the country.

Our Free Tree Scheme will also be running through autumn and winter for communities to plant trees within their local areas. Please contact Rosie on rcotgreave@devonwildlifetrust.org if you think you or your community would like to be involved in some way.

All updates and opportunities will be added to the Saving Devon’s Treescapes website, so keep an eye out for when opportunities are added.

Field patterns, hedges and hedgerow trees at Dumpdon

Field patterns, hedges and hedgerow trees

 

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