Devon charity, Moor Trees and the Woodland Trust want landowners, locals and visitors to join the Great Dartmoor Tree Search to find the seeds to success!
Whether or not you know your wild service from your wayfaring tree, Moor Trees, wants you to get searching! These are just two of the woodland species needing extra help to ensure the future of Dartmoor’s native broadleaf woodlands and internationally important temperate rainforest.
The Great Dartmoor Tree Search is a partnership between Moor Trees and the Woodland Trust supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. Local people and visitors to Dartmoor are encouraged to get involved in this vital work to secure a future seed source for priority tree species in the South West and to support the UK’s woodland creation ambitions.
There are not currently enough UK-grown specimens of these priority tree species, with some being difficult to germinate or grow, so locating new local provenance sources of seed by carefully mapping and collecting will help to build new and resilient woodlands.
The Great Dartmoor Tree Search has been launched to encourage local people and visitors to identify where woodland species, including the wayfaring tree, guelder rose, whitebeam, wild service tree and wych elm, can be located.
The free online i-Naturalist app is a quick and easy way for anyone to identify trees and other wildlife as a citizen scientist. Information will be gathered on locations of potential new seed sources by the Great Dartmoor Tree Search. Digital tools will be available along with pointers on how to spot the species urgently needed to build a more robust supply of trees locally.
Rob Daulby, Woodland Trust Treescape Lead says: “Connecting people with trees and woodlands underpins all the work we do at the Woodland Trust, and this project with Moor Trees is a perfect example of this. Locally sourced and grown trees are really important, especially on Dartmoor to ensure a resilient future.”
Helen Aldis, Chief Executive, Moor Trees says: “We’re grateful for the ongoing goodwill and support of the community which is key to our success in delivering thousands of locally sourced and produced trees each winter. The Great Dartmoor Tree Search is a fun, easy way for locals and visitors to support us in finding rarer trees to boost seed stocks to ensure the restoration and creation of native woodland and temperate rainforests of the future.”
Laura Chow, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery says: “We know how important local citizen science is to conservation work right across Great Britain. We’re delighted our players are supporting the Great Dartmoor Tree Search and look forward to seeing the results flourish in the future through local seed collections.”
Participants in the Great Dartmoor Tree Search are encouraged to download the free, and easy to use, identification app i-Naturalist onto a smart phone and share the locations of priority species. This can include woodlands and hedgerows owned by participants or that are publicly accessible. It is important that anyone supporting the search only accesses land that is permitted or with the agreement of the landowner. Participants are also reminded to take care where they tread, looking out for uneven surfaces and ensuring that no flora is damaged. No plant material should be removed from the location by participants.
The information gathered will be used by Moor Trees to plan its annual Autumn seed gathering programme to increase the range and volume of trees grown in its community tree nurseries to supply into local woodland creation schemes.
To find out more please visit www.moortrees.org/great-dartmoor-tree-search
