AMBITIOUS plans to plant thousands of new trees across Exmoor and the rest of Somerset have received a £300,000 funding boost.
Planting significant numbers of new trees is a key part of Somerset’s climate change strategy to help the county achieve its ambition of becoming net zero by 2030.
However, it is not as simple as just finding some spare land and putting saplings in the ground.
Appropriate sites and species need to be identified and planting and design proposals developed, and consultation carried out on the plans.
Now, a joint funding bid by Somerset County Council, Exmoor National Park Authority, and the Woodland Creation Accelerator Fund (WCAF) and has been awarded £300,000 - the maximum amount possible.
National park authority chief executive Sarah Bryan said: “We urgently need to increase tree cover on Exmoor, but need to ensure we get the right tree in the right place for the right reason.
“By thinking at scale over the whole county with the support offered by the WCAF we can be confident of better outcomes for nature, climate, and the economy, while protecting the park’s special qualities”
County council executive member Cllr Sarah Dyke said: “We know planting trees has huge environmental and ecological benefits and we are fully committed to delivering on our ambitions to see many more trees thriving in Somerset.
“It is important we plant trees and create new woodland in a sustainable way, supporting local nature recovery, promoting health and wellbeing, and taking into account factors like disease, climate resilience, and the local economy.
“We are delighted our WCAF bid has been successful, and we will now look to find the right people with the right skills to turn our vision of a greener Somerset into reality.”
The WCAF funding will be used to fund a new tree project officer, a community empowerment officer, and a technical officer over a three-year period.
They will help accelerate the delivery of tree planting in the winter seasons of 2023/24 and 2024/25 and deliver on the actions set out in a Somerset tree strategy which is nearly finished.
The WCAF award builds on a previous success which saw Somerset awarded £189,975 in 2021 from the Local Authority Treescapes Fund.
The treescapes fund helped meet the cost of planting 800 standard trees and 2,500 whips through the combined efforts of the county council and Somerset’s four district authorities.