During our first year we’ve engaged with 72 different landowners, and ‘pipelined’ up 73 hectares of trees, with some going in this planting season. There have been over 20 different applications to Countryside Stewardship, Environment Agency, Seven Trent, Gloucestershire LTAF and Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) for grant aid.
Severn Treescapes, one year on
© Ben Hall/2020VISION
The Severn Treescapes Project is a year old! During the last year we’ve been up to a lot, from holding seed planting, landowner and community events, to helping landowners to plan to put trees on their land.
Autumn Festival at Robinswood Hill © Nathan Millar
On the engagement side of things, we’ve now planted up 558 seedlings as part of the seed to sapling program and engaged with over 2,100 people at 50 different events. These events have ranged from guided events and walks, education sessions, talks and outreach events, landowner events, and farm walks.
Ben in front of his mural showing what the farm was like when they first took it and what they're working towards
Our most recent landowner farm walk was held at Townsend Farm, and we were hosted by Ben Taylor-Davies, better known as Regen Ben. We started the morning off with a series of talks highlighting some of the different funding available to landowners. We then were given a tour of the farm, and Ben explained some of the agroforestry practices he’s put in place across the farm.
The project has also received additional funding from Wye Valley FiPL recently to start a series of orchard workshops. We’ve noticed many landowners are keen to restore old orchards, but some are wary as they’re not sure how to manage and maintain them. We’ll be working with a series of experts to help us deliver these workshops covering everything from planning and planting to fruit collection and uses after. Keep an eye out for more information about these new free workshops coming out soon!