The Woodland Trust
Our range of high-quality wheelie bin storage units are not only functional and a good-looking addition to your garden, they are environmentally friendly too. All our timber is sourced from FSC certified forests. The Woodland Trust plant, restore and protect the UK’s woodland.
The need to protect our trees
You may think we live in a green and pleasant land. However, just 13% is covered with trees. Since the 1930s, over half of the UK’s ancient woodland has been destroyed. And as the population grows and developers build houses, airports, roads, and railways, we face losing even more of our precious trees.
Trees and woods filter impurities from the air, provides shade, purifies water and enriching soil with nutrients. Which is why something has to be done to protect them; enter The Woodland Trust.
The Woodland Trust
The Woodland Trust is the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity. They have over 500,000 members and supporters, and their work covers a massive 26,000 hectares of land across the UK.
They actively campaign for the protection and restoration of trees and woodlands, which will ultimately benefit wildlife and people.
Who works for the Woodland Trust?
The trust actually only had one member of staff in their first ever office, and today, they employ almost 300 people across the UK as well as over 4000 volunteers.
Working with partners to protect our woodland
The trust work with a range of companies on environmental projects. That will protect woodlands and create green spaces for communities.
Sainsbury’s
The trust has worked with the supermarket chain since 2004. Over £6 million has been raised, helping them plant almost 3 million trees and engage thousands of children in getting close to nature. In 2012, Sainsbury’s contributed £1.5 million to the Jubilee Woods project. Seeing trees planted across the UK, with the creation of Sainsbury’s Wood at the Trust’s Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee site.
Sainsbury’s support has also allowed the trust to support farmers to plant trees.
Most recently, Sainsbury’s donated £4 million to the trust to plant millions of trees in honour of the soldiers who fell in the First World War.
IKEA
The furniture brand has helped the trust to improve neighbourhoods by planting trees. The trust has worked with the company since 2007. In that time, IKEA have donated £2.6 million to support their work. IKEA’s ‘A Foot of Forest’ campaign created 309 acres of new native woodland in the UK.
IKEA also raises funds in its UK stores each time an IKEA FAMILY member swipes their membership card. Customers can donate £1 on top of their bill to pledge a tree for their local community.
The woodland trust’s work
Campaigning to save local woods
As ever more building and other construction work takes place, woods are put under threat. Along with those, the habitats of much of our wildlife.
Ancient woods and trees are valuable natural assets and the trust works to protect woods by campaigning against unnecessary development, and creating wildlife areas around the woods as a kind of buffer zone to protect them from development of neighbouring land.
Restoring ancient woodlands
Ancient woods have been around for many hundreds of years. Records of the existence of the woodlands go back to around 1600 AD. But, many woodlands are much older than this, even back to the last ice age, around 10,000 years ago.
Ancient woodland now covers only around 2% of the UK. The remaining woodland has been damaged by the planting of non-native species of plants, and by increasing development.
Creating woodland
The trust has created thousands of hectares of new woodland across the UK on land they own. They work with others to create new woods or to plant trees. They plant new trees and woodland close to existing areas such as ancient woods or land which might already be a habitat for wildlife. There are many demands on our land, but trees and urban areas can coexist. They keep urban areas cool, provide shade and shelter, and reduce the run off of water from fields. Trees on streets or in hedgerows can bring practical and aesthetic benefits to the areas in which we live. It’s also interesting to know how wood is made as well.
And there’s another happy benefit, a walk in the woodland. Being in nature in general can improve our physical and mental wellbeing. Only 18% of people across the UK live close to a woodland. The trust wants to change this so that more people can reap the benefits of being close to nature.
