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Woodland Trust to select Hertfordshire as new forest location
The Woodland Trust has a plan to plant 600,000 trees in Hertfordshire to help create a forest area in Hertfordshire that will cover 850 acres. It will be the single largest native woodland site owned in England by the Trust.
The proposed new forest will offer massive benefits for people and wildlife and will be open to the public.
Site purchase, planting of trees and management costs for its first five years total £8.5 million, prompting the Woodland Trust’s largest ever fund-raising campaign.
Sue Holden, trust chief executive, explained: “A continuous new native forest of this size has never been created in England before.
“We have been searching for some time for a major site to buy in the south east. Our plans for the new forest are truly historic in scale and offer a great opportunity to plant such a huge number of trees and benefit so many people.
“Native woodland is our equivalent of the rainforest. Woods and trees are not only good for the soul, they are life enhancing and make a real difference to people’s health and wellbeing.”
Our new wood will provide a large and accessible space for people at a time when there is huge pressure to develop and build on land in the south east,” Ms Holden added.
The land, currently farmland in Sandridge near St Albans, has pockets of irreplaceable ancient woodland providing precious wildlife habitat.
“Woodland establishes very quickly. And within two years a tree will be twice the size of the child that planted it, and within 12 years we see a wonderful young forest taking shape,” added Ms Holden.
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