Claire has the Wright stuff for Woodland Trust
Stefan GordonSunday, November 24, 2013
The Woodland Trust has enlisted the support of a new Councillor Tree Champion for Devon as part of a pilot initiative to protect, restore and create the organisation values.
Claire Wright will engage with local authorities to ensure greater protection for woods in Devon as well as offering advice, knowledge, inspiration and encouragement to people interested in planting trees.
Councillor Wright will support the Woodland Trust in a number of ways - alerting the charity to any threats to ancient woodland, helping to improve policies for trees, encouraging more people to enjoy their local woods and helping the trust get more trees planted locally as it aims to double native woodland across the UK.
The Woodland Trust’s Justin Milward said: “It’s exciting to be able to work with Claire to get trees and woods on the agenda in Devon. By working together we are determined to highlight the many benefits of trees and woods and hopefully make the region even greener.”
Cllr Wright added: “I am only too aware of the threats facing our trees and woodlands at the moment; it feels as though they have never been more at risk from development and disease. I love trees and care passionately about protecting them. I am honoured that the Woodland Trust asked me to be its Tree Champion for Devon and will do my best to champion the cause of trees across the county.”
Claire has the Wright stuff for Woodland Trust - News - Sidmouth Herald
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The Woodland Trust
The UK is one of the least wooded countries in Europe and our trees and woodland are constantly under threat from development and disease.
Less than 10 per cent of England is wooded, compared with 44 per cent for Europe.
Ash dieback is likely to cause appalling damage to our woodlands because the ash is one of the most prolific woodland trees - but that’s not the only disease, there are many more, exacerbated by climate change.
And there are other threats to trees and woods from development.
We have seen in West Hill alone, developers ruthlessly ringbark, then fell veteran oaks to make a quick buck. Of course, these will not be isolated instances.
And in other parts of the country, woodland is being ripped out for housing estates and quarrying.
Locally, a proposed quarry at Straitgate Farm on the edge of Ottery will put at risk ancient and irreplaceable woodland, part of which is believed to be rare wildwood - which may be thousands of years old.
See the Straitgate Action Group’s blog-post about it here -http://straitgateactiongroup.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/Cadhay-Bog-Cadhay-Wood-ancient-woodland-wild-orchids.html
Not only are trees beautiful, providing shade and oxygen, and even preventing flooding, but there is something spiritual about walking through woodland.
In West Hill there is a few acres of Woodland Trust owned wood, and it is just wonderful to amble through, to hear the birds singing, smell the earth, see the little flowers in the spring and gaze up at the green leafy canopy above. Trees and woodlands are very special and must be protected - for our children and our children’s children.
As the Woodland Trust’s new tree champion for Devon, I will continue my work that I am already doing in my ward to protect trees, but I also want to find places to plant trees. The Woodland Trust has tree planting kits and can help out with this.
So, this is my first message to Devon people as tree champion - please consider whether any land near you, whether privately, or publicly owned, may be suitable for tree planting and if so, let me know, (as well as your own councillor, of course).
I look forward to hearing from you!
Here’s the piece in this week’s Herald… http://www.devon24.co.uk/news/claire_has_the_wright_stuff_for_woodland_trust_1_3035145
Here’s more information about how the Woodland Trust can help with tree planting -http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant-trees/
Photograph: The stunning line of beeches in spring along Ash Hill Road, West Hill
Claire Wright - Your Independent East Devon District Councillor for Ottery Rural
FRIDAY, 31 MAY 2013
There are orchids in those woods and a whole lot more...
An ecology expert from SLR Consultants undertook an initial walkover survey of local woodland this week, to gauge what future ecological work would be required in relation to Aggregate Industries' preparations for a planning application to quarry Straitgate Farm. His route took him into ancient woodlands, past swathes of bluebells, small woodland ponds, badger sets and purple orchids.
Bat surveys have already started at Straitgate, and some people will have seen the 'tubes' that have been put up to detect dormice activity. From our own experience there are many bats, and the ecology expert would be surprised if there were not dormice in the area too. There are also a number of small woodland ponds in the locality with ideal conditions for great crested newts, and in time these sites will be surveyed for their presence. All these species are protected and would need to be moved or 'persuaded' to move out of harm's way before any quarrying could commence.
What particularly interested the ecology expert on his walkover were parts of Cadhay Bog. This area is a wetland habitat reliant on water from the Straitgate aquifer. The boggy ground, the plant species and the topography all indicate that Cadhay Bog is not just ancient woodland - i.e. continuously wooded since at least 1600 AD - but very ancient or 'primary' ancient woodland. In other words it may have been woodland for up to 10,000 years - a remnant of the prehistoric woodland or 'wildwood' that colonised Britain after the last Ice Age.
Such areas of woodland are rare. The Woodland Trust says that "only two per cent of Britain remains as ancient woodland today" and the percentage that has uninterrupted physical continuity with the wildwood obviously much less.
Such habitats are protected, and the NPPF says "planning permission should be refused for development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats, including ancient woodland and the loss of aged or veteran trees found outside ancient woodland, unless the need for, and benefits of, the development in that location clearly outweigh the loss".
AI may have difficulty in persuading the Environment Agency, Natural England and others that it can quarry Straitgate, and remove unsaturated and saturated parts of the aquifer, without changing the water regime supplying the wetland habitat of this ancient woodland. To do so could cause irreparable harm, and will no doubt be a focus for AI's hydrogeology consultants in the weeks and months ahead.
See also:
Trees and Trust in EDDC Planning. | Sidmouth Independent News
Futures Forum: Protecting trees: A new tree warden for Sidmouth
Futures Forum: District Council moves to set up forum to protect trees in East Devon... next year
Futures Forum: Protecting trees in East Devon
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