Urgent donations needed for 420 acre new woodland

We’re more than halfway towards our target with just 11 days to go! With less than 2 weeks to get our fundraiser across the line, any help you can offer would be hugely appreciated, whether that be sharing with a friend or colleague, posting about it on your social media, or making a donation.  

As we begin the 4th week of our crowdfunding campaign, we’re taking stock of everything that has happened since we launched it at the beginning of February. 

It feels fitting that this week, much of the Avon Needs Trees team will be working across our 4 existing woodland sites alongside volunteers to plant as many trees as possible before the tree planting season is over. On top of tree planting there is essential tree care - mulching, maintaining stakes and guards, and weeding. 

The fact that we put so much time into tree aftercare makes Avon Needs Trees different from many other tree-planting projects and organisations. And the results speak for themselves - our tree survival rates can be as high as over 90% - this is much higher than in projects without aftercare. After planting our trees we then go back for at least 3 years to each site to check for any trees that didn’t survive the summer. We usually find most have made it, but we replant any losses with healthy stock. This approach ensures that we are creating thriving, permanent woodlands. 

Tree-planting season happens from November-March, and so one of the benefits of our Conservation Days for us is that we get to see the trees in leaf.

A photo of a toad resting on one of our mulch mats!

Our wonderful volunteers on site last summer, weeding and re-mulching our recently planted trees. Mulching trees enables higher levels of water retention in hot summer months which increases the chance of the trees surviving. 

Thinking about this is a good reminder that people are also at the core of what we do - after all, we wouldn’t be able to create permanent woodlands so successfully without our volunteer planters, our generous local businesses who give their time and more, and people like you who support our fundraising efforts to get new projects across the line. In light of this, we wanted to share some comments on our crowdfunder that have made us smile recently: 

“Have been supporting ANT from its beginning and great to be contributing towards a better future for the local community and planet”

And

“Go Avon Needs Trees ! You're doing a great job. The world needs trees ! If anyone doesn't know already, volunteering with ANT is great fun and very rewarding. It sounds like they're going to need a lot more volunteers, so come and join the fun !”

“This is exactly the right thing to be doing. It’s good for environment, wildlife and people’s wellbeing.”

To end this week’s update, we find ourselves very much agreeing with one of our valued supporters… ‘this absolutely has to happen’. 

Thank you, as always, for your support. We’ve got until the 8th March to make Lower Chew Forest a reality. As ever, any small thing you can do to help us spread the word is greatly appreciated.