10
Dec
1,800 trees planted at Long Lands Common
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More than 100 volunteers have planted 1,800 trees at the community nature reserve Long Lands Common.
The task was undertaken in one weekend as part of National Tree Week, which ran nationally from November 23 to December 1.
Long Lands Common is a 30-acre site between Harrogate and Knaresborough that was acquired three years ago by the public to protect the land from development.
The first woodland block was planted in March last year and the latest tree-planting exercise is part of a wider scheme to create new areas of woodland, hedgerow, ponds, an orchard, coppice woodland, wildflower meadow and new permissive access paths.
The planting was funded by White Rose Forest, the community forest for north and west Yorkshire, under its government-funded trees for climate scheme.
This latest phase saw two more woodland blocks, also funded and supported by White Rose Forest with delivery partner YORgreenCIC.
The planted trees are a mixture of native species including oak, wild cherry, birch, rowan, lime, sweet chestnut, alder, aspen, willow, hawthorn, hazel and holly.
Trees planted at Long Lands Common
The volunteers included grandparents and grandchildren, as well as Harrogate-based Peyton’s Explorer Scout Unit and a family who had come to plant a celebration tree in memory of a loved one.
Volunteers from the Environment Agency biodiversity team and from the Department for Food and Rural Affairs also took part. The exercise was organised by the Long Lands site rangers and YORgreenCIC, which helps communities create green spaces.
Site ranger and volunteer co-ordinator Barry Slaymaker said:
It was a wonderfully heartwarming sight to see dozens of volunteers planting trees in the mild winter sunshine at Long Lands Common. It’s a magnificent testimony to community action, a real coming together of children, teenagers, young adults, older adults, and even older adults, all keen to be part of the development of Long Lands Common.
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Further plans
Knaresborough Forest Park, the latest project by the Long Lands group, is also consulting White Rose Forest to see what would be appropriate for parts of the new site.
This is the second tranche of funding for Long Lands Common from the trees for climate scheme.
It will pay for the two woodland blocks just planted, covering 1.43 hectares, as well as a compost toilet for the use of volunteers working on the land. White Rose Forest is supporting the woodland for 15 years, by which time it should be established.
The young trees are provided with a tree guard to protect them from deer, who cause damage by eating new growth. The tree guards are biodegradable, and when the trees are large enough, and the guards are no longer needed, they will be composted.
Ian Fraser, woodland officer for Long Lands Common, said:
We are extremely grateful to White Rose Forest for enabling us to undertake this crucial work, to provide a new woodland for the local community and to contribute to nature recovery locally, part of the massively important national effort to reverse nature depletion. The climate emergency will not be resolved without sufficient nature recovery. The fact that so many people in our community support Long Lands Common and Knaresborough Forest Park I find truly awesome.
Tree planting at Long Lands Common
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