Protecting our ecological heritage for us and future generations

Trees are the longest-lived organisms in the world. They provide homes and food for innumerable species of birds, mammals and insects. By planting trees today we are ensuring the survival of species threatened by habitat loss, maintaining the ecosystems on which our lives depend and safeguarding our ecological heritage for future generations.

We must act now We have an aging population of broad leaf trees in the UK. A large number of them are in their latter years and are vulnerable to storm damage and natural decay. Nineteen million trees were destroyed in the storms of 1987 and 1990. More than thirty million were killed by Dutch Elm Disease. With the current Ash Dieback outbreak we are likely to see even worse losses in the next few years and there are other threats to our native trees waiting in the wings. We need to act now to secure the future of our woodlands.

Over the last 50 years nearly half of the UK's ancient, semi-natural woodland has been cleared or converted to commercial plantations. Our destruction of UK woodland habitat during the last century has seen more than one hundred species of animals become extinct. Many more are on the endangered list. Nearly a fifth of Britain's wild plants and flowers are under threat. We can start to turn things round by planting trees.