The Woodland Trust has announced that it will plant more than 50 million trees over the next 25 years, in partnership with the Community Forest Trust and with £5.7 million in government funding. The plan? To replace the man-made treeless fields of England with a vast forest the stretches from coast to coast.
The need is acute. England has the lowest rate of forestation in Europe. Across England, only ten per cent of land is covered by woodland. This is compared to 33 per cent in Germany, according to 2017 figures from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.
There are plenty of possible benefits to a forest of this size. It would reduce the carbon pollution around cities such as Leeds and Manchester and could also slow floodwaters, produce food and timber.
But what about the wildlife that will populate this huge area? "I think the discussion about what species may be introduced, if any, will depend on what the results are from introductions elsewhere in the country," says Paul Nolan, director of Merseyside Forest, one of the key woodlands involved in the project.
The natural rewilding of beavers in recent years has caught the attention of ecologists and the government. Beavers were discovered on the River Otter in Devon in 2013 much to the surprise of locals. Although there were initial protests, the government agreed to let beavers live naturally in their habitat until 2020. During this time their impact on the river flow and flooding will be assessed. "I think we will be able to learn from the beavers and investigate whether this is a possibility in the future," Nolan says. Beavers were hunted to extinction in the UK over 500 years ago, but their possible benefits to the woodland ecosystem could include better management of woodland water supplies.
Today, wildlife specialists are concerned about the lack of diversity in the UK's ecosystem. "England is like a large bowling green, and it's a completely unnatural situation," says Paul O'Donoghue, scientific advisor to Lynx UK Trust, a charity lobbying for the return of the Lynx to our forests.
Campaigns to rewild lynx have gained momentum in recent years. Lynx are forest specialists and mostly feed on roe deer. The population of deer in England has been steadily increasing due to a loss of predators in their food chain. "Anywhere that has suitable prey density is a huge potential area for lynx," says Nolan. 1,300 years ago, Lynx were commonplace in the UK and were especially successful in woodland in the north. "There has been a lot of bone evidence of lynx in Yorkshire. It seems to have been a stronghold."
Campaigners hope that the Northern Forest could be the perfect habitat for the lynx to return back to its natural home, whilst also controlling rapidly increasing deer populations. Lynx UK Trust has alrady won a licensing agreement with Keilder forest in Northumberland, with consultations also ongoing in Scotland.
Currently there are no plans in place for the rewilding of the lynx or the beaver in the Northern Forest. Nevertheless, the project will radically change the landscape and the ecosystem of the north of England. "This is a culmination of everything going in right direction, and it's really a symbolic step forward," says Kathy Wallis, director of science at Kew Gardens.
But how will this collossal project become a reality? Here's our step-by-step guide.
The first challenge is determining which species to plant. "The worst thing we could end up with is a mono-dominant forest which might be good for carbon draw down [filtering the air from carbon] and maybe not for carbon biodiversity," says Wallis. Different species of trees provide different benefits to the environment. "It isn't just carbon draw down, some provide protection from flooding, from soil erosion and some filter clean water in the rivers," she continues.
The planned woodland spans industrial areas but also more remote countryside. This means that the trees planted near cities need to be the optimum species for improving the urban environment. As recorded by the database iTree, there is a ten-fold difference between the capabilities of some tree species.
Once the best tree species are selected, roughly two million will need to be planted each year over the next quarter century. This huge number means there may be a tree-sourcing problem.
According to Tony Kirkham, head of arboretum at the Royal Botanic Gardens, there are unlikely to be that many trees growing in this country. This means they need to be sourced from tree nurseries. The location of these nurseries is important. The climate is very different in the north of the UK than it is in the south, so sourcing any trees that are not already local could cause problems.
"Trees have memories. A tree that is planted in northern England, but selected from the south will think that spring will start earlier," Kirkham says. The result would be earlier flowering. This could imbalance the ecosystem of the region, as insects may also become confused by the early blooming.
To add to the difficulties, the UK nursery industry has shrunk considerably since the 1970s because of a spike in competition from Europe. "Nurseries that were growing millions of trees a year just aren't there now. I hope that this will be a way of resurrecting that industry," Kirkham adds.
Once the baby trees are sourced, ideally at 600-900mm high, they are ready to be transported. A black bin bag could fit a bundle of 200 baby trees, with the soil shaken off at the root.
While transported, they are kept in special bags that are white on the outside and black on inside. The black interior stops sunlight getting through to the roots while the white reflects any sunlight so the baby trees don't get too hot on their journey.
Actually planting the trees shouldn't prove too difficult. On average, one person could plant 1,000 trees a day. Because the trees are so young, this would only involve creating a shallow slit in ground, Kirkham explains.
Without a doubt, this is the most important stage of developing the Northern Forest. While the trees are still young, they are very likely to die if left unprotected. "There will be a loss," says Kirkham. "50 million trees may be planted but you won't end up with 50 million." The key to protecting the young trees will be weed control, until they are finally tall enough to survive on their own, approximately five years after planting.
The area will also be fenced to protect from deer and grey squirrels. "It's important that people are hired to maintain the woodland," Kirkham says. "We can't just plant them and walk away."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
