New woodlands in the right locations, as part of a mosaic of habitats, can maximise these benefits.
Avon Needs Trees aspires to creation new woodlands at a landscape and ultimately a catchment scale so the benefits for nature become greater than the sum of their parts.
In our region the local nature recovery strategy maps out the best locations to create and restore wildlife-rich habitats to act as corridors and stepping stones to help our wildlife populations to grow and move. As we are facing an ecological emergency creating woodlands in line with our local nature recovery strategy creates the maximum benefits for nature’s recovery. Regional networks and strategies are developed by local partnerships, such as the West of England Nature Partnership. These help to inform regional tree planting plans such as the Forest of Avon Plan and also feed into local Council woodland creation planning. This data all helps to identify priority areas for woodland creation.
Our aim is to create maximum benefits from the woodlands we create and we carefully balance these impacts, using the best available evidence, including the relationships between public access, biodiversity gains and climate mitigation.
Image - Daisy Brasington
Site selection
We select sites with an eye creating landscape and catchment scale impact. We choose sites that are suitable for woodland creation as the right intervention in the right place for the reasons, considering factors like local biodiversity, heritage, landscape character and avoiding planting on grade one and two agricultural land. Our sites are carefully scoped using the latest digital mapping tools. Once a potential site has been chosen then on-site surveys are conducted to ground truth records and consultation with the necessary bodies to make sure the site is truly suitable for woodland creation and fits with organisational and regional policies.
Species choice
Our default position is to create woodlands with native, broadleaf species. Tree species are chosen based on site conditions now and what the site and climate might be like in the future. We use industry-standard climate modelling tools to assess species suitability to 2080. Where possible and appropriate, we include areas of natural regeneration, allowing local seed and nature to do some of the heavy lifting.
Photo by Melissa Bradley on Unsplash
Climate change
We need trees to fight the climate crisis, and we need a lot of them! Yet climate change poses a threat to our future trees and the decisions we take now can impact the success and health of our future woodlands. We use the latest guidance and data to assess species and site suitability and build this into our planning. This is an ever-changing world and we always keep our eyes open to new ways of thinking and working to address humanity’s biggest threat.
We are careful to make sure we’re doing the right thing in the right place for both climate and nature. As part of a mosaic of habitats we use the best evidence to decide where wetlands, woodlands and grasslands are most appropriate for local biodiversity and carbon capture.
