Words by Smiley Team
The International Tree Foundation (ITF) are looking forward to beginning another season of planting trees in the UK this Autumn.
Applications for the project received were wide ranging, including from orchards, community-owned woodlands and biodiverse hedging projects. Once the selection process has been completed, the charity will announce which projects it will take forwards.
The charity hopes that the programme will enable people to think different about their local greenspaces and restore a sense of ownership. In the UK, a lot of land is still in private ownership and so spaces the community own and can get involved with a limited.
By working with local communities and the spaces they have available, the ITF hopes to transform the way people relate to nature whilst preserving the trees themselves. Trees can benefit the community on many levels, from providing fruits which can be used to make food, learning opportunities for children and mental health benefits.
Notably, this year's applications saw tree planting proposals from across Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Gloucestershire - some of the most tree-less places in the UK.
Trees need care year round - especially when saplings are young and vulnerable but the planting takes place in Autumn. It takes a community to grow a new kind of landscape and the ITF hope that, going forwards, more and more people will get involved.
To find out more about the ITF, you can sign up to their newsletter or join them as a member.
James Kemp from ITF recently joined out Smiley Talks: Climate event. To catch up with this watch the video below.
