Heart of England Forest Project on target for millionth tree
The Heart of England Forest Project has surpassed all expectations for 2012, with over 318 acres of trees planted since the year began. And with this rapid rate of sapling planting, the charity is on target to plant its millionth tree before the year is out. Felix Dennis will be pleased!
Along with the hard work of Head Forester Stephen Coffey and his team, the recent wet weather – a misery for most, but great news for the HOEF project – has made ground conditions ideal for sapling planting. As a result, the project has already surpassed the number of acres planted in 2010, and will easily leapfrog the landmark planting figure of 325 acres achieved in 2011.
Since 2012 got underway, 145,000 trees have been planted in order to create 318 acres of native broadleaved woodland, bringing the total number of trees planted since 1996 to 974,600. This means a staggering total of 2193 acres of new woodland has now been created in the name of the Heart of England Forest Project.
“Before we plant our millionth sapling, we have a lot of hard work to do maintaining the trees already planted, looking after our tree nursery – the seeds have just been sown – and felling conifers in some of our ancient woodland sites,” says Head Forester Stephen Coffey.
“In addition, we have to preparing for the planting next winter,” he added.
If all that wasn’t enough, the charity has also introduced 6000 native broadleaves to Coughton Park Wood, to replace the conifers felled in 2011. This is the beginning of the project’s move to convert the woodland area from a commercial conifer plantation to a native broadleaved woodland complete with bluebells.
There’s a lot more hard work that needs to be done between now and the end of this year, but keep coming back to the Heart of England Forest’s website for further updates on the charity’s progress towards planting its millionth tree.
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