A sunny last week of August saw the Silk Wood Community Planting Project team and volunteers come together to survey recently planted saplings at Forestry England Westonbirt, the National Arboretum, to calculate the survival rate - known as a ‘beat-up survey’.
Out of the 2,150 trees surveyed, 2,083 made it through the summer – giving a survival rate of 97%. Given the industry standard rate for most planting schemes is 85%, the community project’s survival rate is incredibly high! This is a real testament to the care that was taken during planting, as well as the time taken to look after the trees by visiting community groups.
Three years ago, over 6.5 hectares of native ash trees had to be felled in Silk Wood due to Chalara ash dieback - a fungal disease which kills ash trees. Since then, 3,300 native trees have been planted by over 600 volunteers, with many returning to help look after their trees throughout the summer.
This included mulching – spreading wood chip around the saplings to suppress weeds and retain moisture - and pulling encroaching bramble and thistles. On only 18 tree-care days, over 2,000 trees were looked after, with 35 tonnes of mulch laid by 476 volunteers.
These participants visited from local primary schools, mental health support groups, refugee support charities, environmental youth groups, Special Educational Needs schools and colleges, and support groups for adults with learning difficulties.
Ruth Powell, a leader from Stroud Valley Project, whose visiting group has some adult volunteers with learning difficulties, said:
“Everyone loves to be outside doing practical work, and we’ve had feedback of how relaxed and comfortable they all feel being in the trees at Westonbirt.”
David, a volunteer with Stroud Valley Project, added:
“I’m here today to identify trees and take all the weeds away, and looking at all this is amazing! It’s going to look really good in the future because that’s one of the most important things, for other people to come and see what we’ve done.”
Alongside the tree-care days they also attended wellbeing, art, and activity days – which included how to measure a tree to see how much carbon it can store, and how to identify different species.
Silk Wood Community Planting Project Engagement Officer, Meg Walder-Hills said:
“It’s been fantastic having the groups that planted trees in the winter back to look after them, they’ve really enjoyed seeing how well their trees are doing, and a return visit helps to build their connection to the community woodland.”
With Silk Wood Community Planting Project’s Project Manager, Oscar Adams adding:
“This is an amazing tree survival rate which is incredible for the project and will hopefully be the same for the rest of the planting we do in the coming years. All the volunteers should be incredibly proud, and we look forward to welcoming more groups this coming planting season.”
To find out more visit https://www.forestryengland.uk/westonbirt/community-planting-project and the Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum blog for updates https://fowa.org.uk/blog
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