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Get involved in National Tree Week!
This is a great opportunity for you to do something GREAT for local trees – along with about 250,000 other people. National Tree Week took its first seeds in 1975 and it officially launches the start of the winter tree planting season. In 2010, it takes place from 27 November to 5 December.
Why are trees important?
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We make items such as rubber, cork, paper and wood from trees
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They provide food: apples, pears, plums, figs etc
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They provide us with logs for a winter's fire to keep warm with
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Trees breathe in harmful gasses and breath out oxygen so make our air cleaner and improve air quality
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Some medicines come from the bark of trees
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They absorb sound and reduce noise pollution - the US Environmental Protection Agency says that trees can reduce noise by p to 50%
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Trees stop the rain washing away soil so help uphold banks, hedges etc
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They can offer privacy
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Trees conserve water
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They can protect from the harsher parts of the weather, since their leaves absorb and filter the sun's energy in summer and keep us cool; whereas they screen us from winds, rain, sleet and hail
There’s something very grounding about trees.
Many have been around far longer than any of us have; and they’ll be here way after we’ve gone. Whatever happens in our own lives, our trees are around us to remind us all that the seasons change; life goes on.
Plus since trees provide shade, they offer great places for family & friends to gather to talk, play games and enjoy time together. Many of us will have happy childhood memories of happy times when we played in trees, climbed trees, had fun in tree-houses and playing conkers.
Why are trees important to animals?
Small animals depend on trees for their wellbeing - tiny insects, birds, squirrels all use trees for food, shelter, nesting and resting. They use them to catch prey from.
As forests are cut down by man, the number of larger older and healthy trees decreases which means that animals have less places to feed, nest, rest, reproduce and shelter. One way to look at it is that they have fewer places to call home. Animals need large areas to live in. As you and I shrink the areas available to them, more species will become extinct - as we see from the problems such as the orangutan are facing in Borneo and which organisations such as the World Land Trust are involved with.
Many animals eat leaves. A few mornings ago, we saw 2 deer come into our garden and enjoy a few leaves off our fruit trees. Birds, bats and insects enjoy the nectar. And a good number of animals eat the bark, seeds, nuts and fruit.
The Tree Council’s work
The Tree Council is an umbrella to over 180 organisations looking to put more trees of the right kind in the right places and improve care for all trees, of all ages. The Council’s real goal is to make trees matter to everyone. It has 2 grant programmes; the ‘Trees for Schools' and ‘Community Trees' funds are available for schools and community groups within the UK who are able to show that children under the age of 16 will be actively engaged in the planting projects. And applications for 2009 will be available after National Tree Week
Trees need to be healthy if they are to provide all these benefits, which is why the Tree Council has a number of pages on how to buy, plant, protect and care for trees. The Tree Council hasleaflets about planting and caring for trees
Volunteers can becomeTree Wardens, or co-ordinate a local Tree Network. You don’t need to be an expert – just an enthusiast! |
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Your call to action in National Tree Week
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Check if you need to book in advance (and whether you can take your dog if you have one)
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Put on jeans and wellies
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Get stuck in and have lots of fun |
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