Environmental Perspectives Episode 2

 

Notes from the field; Future thinking - saving seeds and raising trees (Winter - Spring)

Click here to read back on Environmental Perspectives Episode 1 - Diversity in tree planting initiatives!

Editor’s note

The autumn and winter seasons are widely regarded as the optimal time for tree planting due to several key factors: During these colder months, trees enter a period of dormancy, meaning they are in a rest phase with slowed growth and metabolic activity. Planting during this period allows young trees to focus on establishing their root systems without the energy demands of extensive above-ground growth.

Additionally, the soil is typically more workable in autumn and winter as it is not as dry and compacted as during the warmer months, facilitating easier digging and root development. Furthermore, the risk of stress from heat and water scarcity is minimised, offering newly planted trees a better chance of survival. By undertaking this in the cooler seasons, tree planters contribute to the overall success and health of trees, promoting robust growth when spring arrives.

Our planters in the field practically apply 9Trees theories during this season. However, this side is often overlooked in the rhetoric about tree planting and why it is necessary; therefore, Environmental Viewpoints #2 & #3 are dedicated to giving voice to essential practitioners.

At 9Trees we plant only native Broadleaf with a minimal spattering of conifer if it’s deemed beneficial to have a mixed woodland. We agree we need Sustainable Forestry for the future and welcome a myriad of viewpoints. We work with all kinds of tree planters, conservationists and landowners to achieve a mosaic habitat throughout the UK moving towards regenerative agriculture for Biodiversity and wellbeing. If you would like to work, write or send in your viewpoints we welcome open conversation. 

Planting 20,000 trees by hand is no mean feat. Photo: Neil Insh

What it feels like to plant 20,000 trees (by hand)

Autumn was over, but winter had yet to fully bare its teeth. However, you could feel the change of the seasons being carried ever closer with each dawn. Thus, as we drove across the remote North Devon countryside, another dawn began to usher in the winter. The sky was a steely blue-grey as a flash of liquid amber bled in from the eastern horizon. As the sun rose, the lightest of mists rose with it, lifting from the damp meadows, touching the Beechwoods and sharpening the pines of the distant plantations. 

We turned off the road and rattled our way down the forestry track, every pothole a wake-up call. The orange dash lights in the van still glowed but no longer shone as the forest around us awoke for the day. The radio droned out the day’s news and the hot stuffy cab was filled with the fug of damp earthy coats, boots and gloves. Up ahead, a Roe deer crossed the track, pausing only briefly in the half-light to acknowledge our presence. Turning a corner, the woods opened into the clearing we were here to replant. It looked barren - if a little desolate - and the idea of planting some Scots pine there today, reforesting it for the future, was both daunting yet alluring. 

Once we parked, we drank the obligatory cup of morning coffee. Strong, sweet, somehow metallic and straight from the flask, its aroma blended seamlessly with the earthy ambience of the van, sweeping away the last semblance of sleep from my eyes. Outside the morning was fresh and thick. Dew clung heavily to my spade and decorated our young Scots pine plants with pearls of perfect crystal. Gloves on, planting bags full of trees, we stepped out to greet the dawn. 

A Scots Pine. Photo: Neil Insh

The multiple benefits trees provide to humans and the environment

This was the second week of tree planting I had undertaken that season and I still wasn't sure if I liked it or not. We were being paid to plant 450 to 600 trees each per day: no tree guards and no canes. It was undeniably hard graft with the constant, unrelenting cycle of healing in the spade, opening a slit in the earth, bending low with prickly pine in hand, pushing the roots deep into the soil, standing up, healing the plant in (to give its roots the best chance of growing). It's repetitive, it's tiring and often it's raining. Yet, tough as it can be, there are so many reasons it feels so good to plant trees and help create a forest. 

Much has been written about the benefits trees provide to the world; carbon storage, air quality improvements, the creation of woodlands to foster biodiversity, ecosystem services (such as water purification), and even the provision of sustainable timber for building to name but a few. Yet, on a damp, cold winter day when the wind blows drizzle across the hillside, it can seem as though these well-documented benefits are far away and easily forgotten. So, on a personal level, why plant trees? Why could it feel so good, wholesome and fulfilling for the individual to spend the day out in the open completing this challenging, repetitive task? 

For me, the joy of tree planting comes down to three reasons; chief among these is the mental and physical well-being that comes from being active outside and close to nature. On an average day of planting, you walk almost a mile slowly, gently pausing every two metres or so to plant your tree. This slow pace opens the natural world for you to observe mindfully as you progress. The birds and other wildlife don't notice your approach so you're often granted a rare close encounter. 

Perhaps a snipe leaps up only a couple of yards away, wheels into the sky, calling with its croaky melodic voice. As the snipe climbs the morning dew runs from its back and you are often close enough to see each droplet fall. Other times you may startle a hare that will gallop away from its resting place - so near that you can hear the rhythmic beat of its feet fade as it disappears into the distance - a final flash of technicolour brown waving as it goes. Often in a sheltered spot, a purple bright sprig of heather may cling on deep into the winter; when you see it at your feet, perfection in miniature - even the coldest of hearts may sigh. 

The physical and mental benefits of tree planting are not to be underestimated. Photo: Neil Insh

20,000 trees: The physical side of planting

The graft you put into doing this physical labour seems only to heighten these experiences; often maligned by wider society, there is still a pleasure and pride in using the strength of your arm and working the sweat of your brow to make a change in the world. It feels good to move in the fresh air, beneath the sky. It feels even better to know this physical effort is not in vain.

This leads to my next reason for taking joy in tree planting: The knowledge that, by planting a tree, you're growing a better world for tomorrow. Often in life our toil or efforts are for short-term gains - perhaps we work to save a few moments in the day or earn some money to pay the bills that month. However, trees work on a much longer time scale - a tree you plant today could still be growing in one or two hundred years. 

Moreover, a woodland you help to create may persist, in one form or another, for millennia. To be able to engage in such a simple act that will likely have positive benefits for years to come, serve future generations, and outlive our short lifespans is a powerful thing. For me, it is a great motivator; a source of joy that keeps me planting trees day after day all through the winter. It is a good reason to be.

Which offers my final reason I plant trees, no matter how hard it sometimes is: the fact we can be a part of something bigger than ourselves, something that transcends national borders, something we desperately need in the world. If you are reading this blog, you likely already comprehend the challenges we face as a global community of humanity.

A tree nursery provides small trees with optimal conditions to grow before being planted as young saplings. Photo: Neil Insh

Epilogue: By no means a silver bullet

Furthermore, you may know that right now the twin crises of global biodiversity decline and climate change are already hitting hard; whole cities are being moved higher so they do not flood with sea level rise. Temperatures climb each year and even as I write acres of forest are still burning across the globe. Even zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19 cast their shadow more frequently across societies as human endeavour cuts deeper into jungles and wild places across the earth. In these last bastions of wilderness, we meet novel zoonosis and spread them to every continent. 

Although not a silver bullet, the establishment of forests through the planting of trees is a great tool to attempt to begin to combat these global problems. As an individual, this is one small act we can do right now in our local communities: plant a tree and let it grow. In the end, both our grandchildren and the global ecosphere will thank us for it. So, I suppose that is what it feels like to plant 20,000 trees. It feels as though, for a moment, I'm connected to the rest of the earth. It feels like I'm doing something to help.

by Richard Nokes, tree planter and conservationist

Richard Nokes is a Conservationist, Tree planter, Writer - and Cornish through and through. He is a countryside professional specialising in habitat restoration and conservation through heritage skills such as drystone walling or hedge laying. He believes in a countryside where traditional land management systems, repurposed and made relevant for the modern age, can be a key part of sustainable landscape conservation where the needs of both people and nature can be met on equal and synergistic terms. He is based in the Westcountry and often wears silly hats. 

Views of Guest writers allow us to build a more diverse picture of the world around us and may not necessarily align with the values of 9Trees as a CIC

 
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