The mayor of South Yorkshire is taking major steps towards fulfilling his commitment to planting a tree for every person in South Yorkshire.
Mayor Oliver Coppard is working with The Conservation Volunteers (TCV), a national project that works with thousands of community groups across the UK to plant trees in efforts to improve sustainability in South Yorkshire.
TCV improves biodiversity and environmental health through community outreach, with one million trees being planted last year.
Mr Coppard aims to have pocket forests across Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster.
Joe Coles, 40, Tree Program Manager at TCV said: “These communities now have a healthy green space that might have once been derelict, useless land.”
The ‘I Dig Trees’ initiative provides trees and guidance needed for communities to grow the forests in public accessible areas, which grow into rich independent woodlands.
The trees require care and attention during the first three to four growing seasons. Communities are encouraged to keep looking after them, allowing for continuous benefits to the locals.
TCV monitors the impacts it has on biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and community cohesion.
Mr Coles said: “We are creating spaces that are not just biodiversity rich but actually useful for communities to come together.”
With the element of self-policing and self-incentive, many communities have been inspired to further develop their green spaces.
The organisation regularly attends schools in efforts to educate children about climate sustainability in an outdoor-classroom interactive environment.
Mr Coles added: “A major part of it is seeing what we’ve lost but also how making some effort, a bit of activism in your own community, can make a real difference.”
TCV offers diverse packs of trees that are tailored to specific habitats to prevent monoculture and allow for the greatest environmental impact and survival of the ecosystem.
They have recently switched to biodegradable tree guards as protection against small mammals.
Mr Coles said: “We want a natural native deciduous woodland that will keep regenerating itself.”
The project is being funded by Oliver Coppard, with corporate funders turning to TCV wanting to benefit the environment and communities in the UK as part of a wider carbon off-setting program.
Participants are encouraged to share their experiences online and with TCV to help them learn about challenges and further encourage others to take part, giving them the confidence needed to make a start.
More information on how to contribute can be found here.