Over 70 pupils from Cam Everlands Primary School, Dursley, visited Westonbirt, The National Arboretum last week to plant as many trees as they could for the ‘Silk Wood Community Planting Project’, helping restore an area of ancient semi-natural woodland within the arboretum.

This exciting tree planting activity is overcoming the impact of ash tree felling in 2021 due to Chalara ash dieback.

Through exemplary woodland regeneration, the project’s aim is to plant at least 9,000 trees within the Silk Wood area of the arboretum, involving more than 1,000 community participants.

A key aspect of this planting and ongoing tree care is the involvement of local community groups over the next three years.

Restoration of this 5-hectare area within Silk Wood will provide a unique ‘community woodland’ and an accessible space for people to enjoy an improved sense of wellbeing by seeing this area of woodland establish.

Commenting on the tree planting with the school, Oscar Adams, Project Manager at Westonbirt, whose role has been funded by the Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum, said: “We were delighted to see the pupils from Cam Everlands Primary School have so much fun planting 145 trees with us.

We have been working with over 200 pupils, across 8 local schools - asking them to help design our community woodland. The winning design was from 11-year-old Emily Fletcher who was a pupil at Cam Everlands Primary School. We are incorporating her ideas into our final woodland design.

"Having the school here today allows us to excite young people about trees, woodland management, and heritage conservation - securing the future for Westonbirt Arboretum.

"We hope they will return here for years to come to find and watch their trees grow!”

Dominic Knill, Head Teacher of Cam Everlands Primary School added: “Today has been a fantastic opportunity to bring our pupils, from age 6-11, to be part of something bigger.

"They have thrived being outdoors today, learning about the need to replace the lost trees and will, hopefully, be able to return in the future with their children and grandchildren to see the trees they planted.”

"Instead of working with local contractors on the replanting, Westonbirt have chosen to use this project as way to engage hundreds of local people."

The project is targeting young people, people from disadvantaged backgrounds, those with neurodiverse conditions and people of a broad range of ethnicities to be part of this journey.

The local groups have been invited to participate alongside Westonbirt’s team in the design, selection of trees, ground clearing and preparation, tree planting and future care of this beautiful woodland.

The tree species that are being planted have been carefully selected from Forestry England’s Delamere Nursery with climate and disease resilience in mind. Native species such as field maple, small-leaved lime, pedunculate oak and hawthorn, alder and holly are being planted.

Some mature trees remain standing allowing for a diverse structure which is fantastic for wildlife.

Projects like this are a great example of the work Westonbirt is doing to deliver their 10-year vision by connecting more people with trees to improve the quality of life, through education, conservation, and participation.

This exciting project is still in its fundraising stage as more funding is needed to complete this three-year project. The first phase of three-years of tree planting began this winter.

The team look forward to sharing more news about this project as it evolves, explaining how you can support this regeneration project that is empowering local communities at Forestry England’s Westonbirt, The National Arboretum. Visit the Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum blog for updates fowa.org.uk/blog.

For more background to this project, see https://www.forestryengland.uk/westonbirt/community-planting-project