DO you want to plant trees? Grants are now available to help create new native broadleaf woodland.

Clapham-based charity Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust’s (YDMT) woodland creation programme is open to anyone who owns or manages land and will help plant woodland of any size including the costs of fencing and planting.

Funding is also available for individual landscape and field trees to help offset the impacts of tree disease and increasing severity of storms.

Chris Lodge, woodland officer at YDMT, said: “Most landowners, particularly farmers, will have small areas of their farm that are unproductive or underused. Although these areas are small in terms of size, they can have a big impact on the biodiversity of the local area and the Dales as a whole.

“Small woodlands and hedgerows help create wildlife corridors as well as contributing to our fight against climate change.”

The charity has helped landowners plant nearly 1.6 million trees since 1997, and encourages communities to get involved with woodlands.

Chris added: “Our programme supports anyone who wants to plant trees, woodland and hedgerow on their land. We can take them through the process of creating a woodland scheme, making it as simple as possible, and help plant plastic free where appropriate.

“We will then work with you to make the scheme a reality – and liaise with local people and groups to make it a real community effort.”

Sandra Ireton from Westfields in Chapel-le-Dale planted Chapel Beck wood with the trust in 2020/21.

She said: “We planted 2,000 trees with YDMT to create a wildlife corridor along Chapel Beck. They made the process really easy from start to finish and I’m delighted with how the scheme is growing. We’re also part of the trust’s Plastic Free Woodlands project as we have a number of alternative tree guards being trialled here.

“I’d recommend working with the YDMT. Every farm in the area has gills and field corners similar to Chapel Beck; this project shows how parcels of underutilised agricultural land can be dedicated to environmental protection and thrive alongside productive food producing areas. This creates a balance and protects both the rural economy and the delicate farmed landscape, crafted and preserved by many generations of farmers, that is cherished by the whole world.”

Sandra is a member of the DEFRA Research and Insight Network Group and is taking part in the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Landscape Recovery studies.

For further details contact Chris on chris.lodge@ydmt.org or call 015242 51002.

Forms and guidance are available at https://www.ydmt.org/what-we-do/tree-planting/woodland-grants