Wye to Wyre Woodland

The Severn Treescapes project is a TCAF (Defra Trees Call to Action Fund) project led by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and Herefordshire Wildlife Trust in partnership with the Forestry Commission, Severn Trent and the Environment Agency and supported by the CLA and NFU.

Promoting habitat connectivity, landscape resilience and farm businesses across a 60-mile corridor, connecting the Forest of Dean and Lower Wye Valley to the Wyre Forest, by incorporating more trees into farms. Whether that be through woodland creation and management, hedgerow planting or gapping-up, riparian buffers, contour planting, traditional orchard restoration, shelterbelts, in-field trees for livestock shade or other agroforestry systems.

About 20% of the project area is grade 1 or grade 2 farmland, so a focus will be to incorporate trees into farming systems and demonstrate that productive agriculture and improved landscape benefits, such as biodiversity, soil protection, flood resilience, wellbeing, air quality and carbon sequestration to name just a few can go hand in hand.

The first few hectares of trees have already been planted or pipelined and our advisers in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire are speaking to 46 landowners at present, developing plans to make sure the right trees go in the right places and signposting to funding sources. The team have also engaged with over 1300 people in learning about the multiple benefits of trees in the landscape.

If you think you might be in the project area, are interested in a free farm visit and a discussion about the potential for planting and the most appropriate funding sources, you can find out more information here or email midlands@cla.org.uk.