Save Our Wild Isles Community Fund has provided £1,970 of match funding
TreeAction -Watering solutions for our young trees
Brighton, England, United Kingdom
Aim
To provide sustainable watering solutions that enable new trees planted on public and school sites to survive and thrive.
It is estimated that in some regions of the UK over 60% of young trees died last year due to the intense summer heat and the drought conditions. We want to:
- Buy large volume of water carriers, barrows, several cargo bikes and trailers specifically designed to provide an emergency watering service for hundreds of trees on public land, schools and streets when needed.
- Ensure we can water our trees across the region this summer and in future, keeping them alive so they can grow into CO2 munching beauties.
- Grow and support more trees in schools and public sites in Sussex with tree planting projects and the conservation of those trees.
- Train the local volunteers in caring for the newly planted tress.
- Trial this project in the Adur & Worthing region of West Sussex as a case study of what can be achieved with the support of the community and our volunteers.
Having planted hundreds of trees in the past few years in both schools and public spaces, we are facing a real challenge keeping them alive through challenging summer heat.
Every £1 pledged to this project will be matched with £2 from the Wild Isles Fund - pledge £20, we get £60!
Who We Are
Tree Action is a not-for-profit volunteer led organisation in Sussex set up a few years ago to deliver and organise tree planting and maintenance projects for schools and communities - www.treeactionuk.org
We engage young people and their families with the projects we have developed on public land given to us to plant trees by local authorities, and we also organise projects for schools so that their students can become part of tackling climate change whilst connecting with the environment as they learn about sustainability.
We are currently fifteen regular part-time volunteers handling all admin planning and conservation including a volunteer forest school team leader, an arborist, a teacher, a part-time marketing officer, a number of graduates and masters student volunteers. On top of that we get support and guidance from the local council's environmental team.
Volunteers after a tree planting event at Middle Road Rec in Adur District, March 2023
What We've Done So Far
We started by planting over 100 trees in the Shoreham by Sea and Southwick areas of West Sussex with the help of local volunteers. We then turned our attention to schools. We've now worked with 5 schools, two secondary academies and three primary schools, helping them to plan and co-ordinate tree planting projects, and in one case we worked with Warden Park Academy in Cuckfield through the lockdown period to successfully crowdfund and plan for their project which involves planting 57 trees and developing a community garden at the rear of the school.
"This is a brilliant project not only for the students at Warden Park but for the environment too." - E. Rudden, supporter.
Photos Above: Students of Warden Park Academy potting some self seeded oaks to raise funds for more trees. Below: Year 6 Students of Buckingham Park Primary School planting saplings at their local park. Different classes have been revisiting the trees to remove any weeds and add mulch to suppress weeds and help the trees establish.
The Assistant Head at Buckingham Park Primary School said in a statement to the local press after a tree planting event that some of the students had never planted anything in their lives, and many of them were raving about their experience afterwards.
We then started to deliver two further projects on the grounds of Buckingham Park Primary school in Shoreham by Sea December 2021 where we planted 22 trees including Plums, Silver Birches, an Indian Bean trees, a Liquid amber and five pear trees, with a further 38 trees being planted there by us this year, and at Eastbrook Primary Academy where all the students got involved in planting Lime Trees, Silver Birches and Oak trees. At Eastbrook a sustainable watering solution is needed so the school doesnt have to pay for watering the trees, as well as paying for their wish list of tools including watering cans for the students to water their trees with.
Top: Students from Eastbrook Primary Academy planting Silver Birch trees on their school grounds. Bottom: Map showing locations for all trees in the plan for Buckingham Park Primary School which includes Hawthorn, Cherry, Hazel, Rowan and Pear, an Indian bean tree, liquid amber and a walnut tree.
Every class at both schools is now involved in weeding and caring for their trees in line with the maintenance plan we provided. Each class has a tree or group of trees that the school have told them they are responsible for from the time they join the school, to the time they will leave. The schools tell us the students are so excited when its their turn to get outdoors to look after their trees!
Community Projects
In addition to the school projects, we are organising community projects in public spaces as regular monthly one day events that involve either planting or caring of trees for people of all ages, working with the local authorities. People love these events. They are an opportunity to connect with nature on a weekend with family whilst doing something positive to support their local environment, and often learn something new. We have been contacted numerous times by families wanting to get their children outdoors and connected with nature, including children with special education needs, and we are very keen to get them involved and grow this side of what we do. We currently have 4 public spaces where we have planted trees on public land given to us by local authorities and these need regular maintenance to get the trees established.
Top and Bottom: Volunteers at a tree watering event at Sheepcombe Hanger near the Cissbury Ring, W.Sussex in April 2021.
We hope you can support us to support young people and our communities to care for trees and help get them established!
This project successfully funded on 11th May 2023