Trudy Harrison is the MP for Copeland and Minister for the Natural Environment
This weekend millions of us will have sat down to watch the next episode of Sir David Attenborough’s new documentary Wild Isles. In his own exceptional fashion, it tells us the unique story of the extraordinary nature we can find in our own backyard.
This episode focused on our woodlands. From pine trees in the Cairngorms, to yew trees in West Sussex, Sir David highlighted the intrinsic beauty of British nature, focusing on the important role that trees play in our ecosystems and the species that rely on these precious woodlands.
These including our iconic robins, fallow deer, and the incredible networks of fungi that connect entire forests together. At home in the Lake District, I feel privileged to be surrounded by an abundance of woodland on my doorstep. I have experienced first-hand how trees are at the heart of our community, essential to supporting our well-being and improving our quality of life.
But since Sir David was born in 1926, we have lost almost half of our ancient woodlands. Tree cover in the UK has been going up for a century, but still only 13 per cent of our isles are covered by them. We must do more, and faster, to expand, protect and restore our precious woodlands and the species that rely on them.
That’s why the Government has introduced a legal target requiring tree canopy cover to reach 16.5 per cent of England’s land area by 2050. In England, we are taking action for our woodlands through the landmark Environmental Improvement Plan. This commits to trebling tree planting rates by the end of Parliament. This is an ambitious task.
However, last year alone we planted over four million trees with Government funding. Through our £750 million Nature for Climate Fund we are helping to create new woodlands across the country. We recently reopened the Tree Production Innovation Fund to support tree nurseries to innovate and develop new technologies to make sure we have the supply of saplings we need to meet our ambitious targets.
We are doing much of this together with our fantastic farmers. They are the heart of our countryside – so we are transforming the way we support them, to reward their work to keep us fed whilst helping us meet our world-leading climate and environment targets.
But this isn’t just about tree numbers. We need to protect and restore the woodlands we already have, as well as plant new ones. Just this week we announced the reopening of the Woods into Management Innovation funds. These funds support land managers to manage their woodlands so that they are more biodiverse, healthy, and resilient to the impacts of climate change.
Futureproofing our ancient woodlands from future challenges like these is just as important because these historic canopies are so vital to so many species, such as the iconic red squirrel. Red squirrels are such striking and wonderful animals, and are much loved by the British public.
We are absolutely committed to supporting their recovery. We have made legal and binding commitments to create thousands of hectares of new wildlife-rich habitat under the Environment Act and are supporting urgent measures to reduce the threat posed by invasive grey squirrels.
As well as helping us to halt biodiversity decline, woodland creation is crucial to our fight against climate change. Each and every tree planted will absorb up to 150kg of carbon per year, having a tangible impact on our efforts to tackle environmental pollution.
Our tree-planting efforts will also help create more local job opportunities across the country and support the economy. As the Forestry sector grows, it will employ 30,000 people who will be dedicated to protecting our precious woodlands, contributing more than £2 billion to our economy every year.
It is truly incredible to admire British nature from the comfort of our sofas through the lens of Wild Isles. The value of trees to people and nature has never been clearer. Everyone can play a part in protecting and restoring nature.
Planting a sapling in your garden, digging a pond, sowing some wildflower seeds, or leaving the mower in the shed for another few weeks during early summer are all great ways to get involved in safeguarding our woodlands and environment for future generations.
Trudy Harrison is the MP for Copeland and Minister for the Natural Environment
This weekend millions of us will have sat down to watch the next episode of Sir David Attenborough’s new documentary Wild Isles. In his own exceptional fashion, it tells us the unique story of the extraordinary nature we can find in our own backyard.
This episode focused on our woodlands. From pine trees in the Cairngorms, to yew trees in West Sussex, Sir David highlighted the intrinsic beauty of British nature, focusing on the important role that trees play in our ecosystems and the species that rely on these precious woodlands.
These including our iconic robins, fallow deer, and the incredible networks of fungi that connect entire forests together. At home in the Lake District, I feel privileged to be surrounded by an abundance of woodland on my doorstep. I have experienced first-hand how trees are at the heart of our community, essential to supporting our well-being and improving our quality of life.
But since Sir David was born in 1926, we have lost almost half of our ancient woodlands. Tree cover in the UK has been going up for a century, but still only 13 per cent of our isles are covered by them. We must do more, and faster, to expand, protect and restore our precious woodlands and the species that rely on them.
That’s why the Government has introduced a legal target requiring tree canopy cover to reach 16.5 per cent of England’s land area by 2050. In England, we are taking action for our woodlands through the landmark Environmental Improvement Plan. This commits to trebling tree planting rates by the end of Parliament. This is an ambitious task.
However, last year alone we planted over four million trees with Government funding. Through our £750 million Nature for Climate Fund we are helping to create new woodlands across the country. We recently reopened the Tree Production Innovation Fund to support tree nurseries to innovate and develop new technologies to make sure we have the supply of saplings we need to meet our ambitious targets.
We are doing much of this together with our fantastic farmers. They are the heart of our countryside – so we are transforming the way we support them, to reward their work to keep us fed whilst helping us meet our world-leading climate and environment targets.
But this isn’t just about tree numbers. We need to protect and restore the woodlands we already have, as well as plant new ones. Just this week we announced the reopening of the Woods into Management Innovation funds. These funds support land managers to manage their woodlands so that they are more biodiverse, healthy, and resilient to the impacts of climate change.
Futureproofing our ancient woodlands from future challenges like these is just as important because these historic canopies are so vital to so many species, such as the iconic red squirrel. Red squirrels are such striking and wonderful animals, and are much loved by the British public.
We are absolutely committed to supporting their recovery. We have made legal and binding commitments to create thousands of hectares of new wildlife-rich habitat under the Environment Act and are supporting urgent measures to reduce the threat posed by invasive grey squirrels.
As well as helping us to halt biodiversity decline, woodland creation is crucial to our fight against climate change. Each and every tree planted will absorb up to 150kg of carbon per year, having a tangible impact on our efforts to tackle environmental pollution.
Our tree-planting efforts will also help create more local job opportunities across the country and support the economy. As the Forestry sector grows, it will employ 30,000 people who will be dedicated to protecting our precious woodlands, contributing more than £2 billion to our economy every year.
It is truly incredible to admire British nature from the comfort of our sofas through the lens of Wild Isles. The value of trees to people and nature has never been clearer. Everyone can play a part in protecting and restoring nature.
Planting a sapling in your garden, digging a pond, sowing some wildflower seeds, or leaving the mower in the shed for another few weeks during early summer are all great ways to get involved in safeguarding our woodlands and environment for future generations.