Avon Needs Trees: Starting with the Marden Valley

Aim

Help us fund an independent valuation of a beautiful 34 acres near Chippenham which we plan to buy to reforest.

UPDATE

Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed! Your donations have meant that this initial stage of our project was fully funded in less than three days! We've been blown away by your generosity and your enthusiasm.

This page will soon close and we'll get about having the land we want to buy valued. Once that's done and we've agreed a price with the current land owner we will need to come back to Crowdfunder to ask you to help us raise some of the money we'll need to purchase this land and begin reforesting. Please don't donate any further funds at this time.

Thank you!

Original pitch:

What is Avon Needs Trees?

Avon Needs Trees is a new charity (in the process of registration) that aims to buy land throughout the Bristol - Avon catchment area and reforest it. We are supported by The Environment Agency, The Woodland Trust, The Rivers Trust, the local Wildlife Trust and the local Friends of the Earth groups.

Why Reforest?

Almost all of Avon's woodland has disappeared over the last few centuries. This is disastrous for many reasons but perhaps most pressingly because trees are essential for tackling climate change. Trees take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and protect the valuable soil beneath. By growing thousands of new trees we can take a significant step in the battle against a climate disaster.

Reforesting Avon has multiple other benefits. It will provide natural flood management which is much more cost-effective than engineered flood defences. All of the towns and cities in the area, including Chippenham, Bath, Bradford-on-Avon and Bristol are greatly at risk of flooding, particularly as climate change advances. Careful planting will also help enhance bio-diversity and protect our water quality by reducing nitrogen run off. In addition, land acquired will have open access to the public, providing valuable public space.

We believe buying the land is a much better way to get things done. Asking land owners to voluntarily make these changes does not provide long term, guaranteed results.

What Do We Need Now?

We have found a beautiful 34 acres in the Marden Valley between Chippenham and Calne. Both towns have been hit by floods in recent years and planting in the high catchment area helps protect all the other towns and cities downstream. This makes a perfect first purchase.

The first step towards purchasing this land is an independent 'Red Book' valuation. This is required by all funders and we need £1000 in order to proceed.

What's Special About This Land?

These 34 acres contain some existing ancient woodland which needs protection. We are likely to lose all the Ash trees which make up a big percentage of the wood in the next few years due to Ash Die Back. There are also two enormous pastures in which we plan to plant trees, while allowing space for glades and biodiversity improvement. We will need to conduct an ecological survey to determine the balance. Buying and protecting this land will also help protect the river Marden which runs alongside it, and which currently fails water quality tests for nitrates and phosphates.

This project successfully funded on 30th April 2019