Seeing the tree from the woods
The widespread anger and shock caused by the felling of the iconic Sycamore Gap tree has served as a sad reminder of our deep connection with trees, and the importance of individual trees for landscapes and for humanity.
This year ITF has continued to work with communities to plant hundreds of thousands of trees in the UK and Africa. We are often looking at the big picture, seeing landscapes being steadily restored. We see the forests and the woods but we also care about the individual tree.
Take for example the threatened tree species that we are seeking to re-establish in Kenya. We start with a journey into the forest to find the ‘mother tree’, mapping its location and carefully collecting its seeds. The seed is then nurtured to germination in a community tree nursery, where those involved learn new skills on how to ensure that it will thrive into a healthy sapling.
Thriving saplings at a community tree nursery in Meru County, Kenya
That sapling, with others, is then taken to a farm in the surrounding villages or to a forest restoration site. The land is carefully prepared and the sapling planted. Further work is undertaken to protect the area, to mulch the sapling and to nurture it until it is established. In time, that tree will grow and may become a mother tree itself, its own seeds falling to the ground with new saplings rising from the earth.
(Right) ITF’s Kenya Programme Manager, Mercy Kimani, standing next to trees that were planted in Dundori Forest in 2022.
Trees are often simply treated as a commodity and only seen in the aggregate – counting tonnes of carbon, or the profits that can be made from felling. In countries as far apart as Honduras, Cameroon, Cambodia and Indonesia I’ve witnessed timber trucks rumbling past like a funeral cortege, hauling the trunks of enormous tropical trees on their way to satisfy some market demand for hardwood. Much of what I saw was illegal logging. This has shifted my perspective from the aerial view of the rainforest to focus on the loss of a single mighty Mahogony tree.
Our tree planting community, comprising of our amazing supporters, dedicated local communities and the small ITF team in Africa and the UK, shares something in common. We know the value trees have for wildlife, on restoring landscapes and improving lives. And we appreciate their intrinsic value – their beauty and majesty. We also share a determined commitment to restoration in the face of wanton destruction.
Each tree we plant needs to be nurtured. Every tree matters.
Plant trees with us
Your kind gift today will help plant trees that protect our precious forests and woodlands.