Local seeds help volunteers grow Welsh woodland

In Monmouthshire, the next generation of woodland is starting with seed gathered from local trees. Volunteers with Stump Up For Trees are collecting again this autumn, following a harvest of 35,000 seeds last year, the BBC reports.

The charity grows its own trees at a community nursery near Abergavenny, particularly where Welsh-grown stock is hard to obtain. Volunteers also tend donated saplings, giving them time to develop stronger stems before planting on rough, bracken-covered ground.

The work continues beyond planting day. At Great Tre Rhew farm, earlier volunteer planting helped create more than a kilometre of hedgerows and shelterbelts, adding wildlife habitat and shelter for livestock.

A seed count cannot tell us how many trees will survive. Nor does this reporting establish how much flood protection the planting provides; growing woodland takes years of care.

But the approach gives local people a part in the whole process: gathering seed, raising young trees and helping them settle into the landscape where they will grow.

Sources

• BBC — seed collecting in Monmouthshire
• Stump Up For Trees — how the community nursery works
• Stump Up For Trees — Great Tre Rhew farm