Welcome to Treesponsibility

Climate Action in Calderdale

“Our aims are to educate people about the need for action on climate change, to involve local communities in tree-planting, and to improve our local environment to the benefit of local people and future generations. In particular we seek to:-

Encourage, empower and enable people to take responsibility for their own CO2 emissions through tree-planting, as one urgent response to climate change

Bring back our lost woodlands and increase biodiversity

Spread the idea and practice of land-connectedness, co-operation and community as a possible future, and the most sensible way out of the present environmental crisis.”

Treesponsibility constitution, 1998

Since its formation in 1998, Treesponsibility has planted an average of 5 hectares per year of new woodland – equivalent to 1% of the annual target for Yorkshire and Humberside. Hundreds of people from all walks of life have been involved with the project, including local volunteers and landowners, schools in Calderdale and beyond, a wide range of youth and community groups, and visitors from further afield joining us for one of our tree-planting weekends (details of which can be found on our website, www.treesponsibility.com). We are looking forward to expanding our project over the next three years, and would like to play a additional role in the delivery of the regional forestry strategy by offering help and support to anyone interested in starting a similar project in other parts of the region.. We think that it is not unrealistic to aim to achieve roughly 10-20% of the region’s targets for new woodland through community reforestation. We can offer skill-sharing workshops, passing on practical advice on obtaining, evaluating and designing planting sites, maximising involvement, raising resources and communicating the science of climate change.

The multiple benefits of our work include:-

Reduced vulnerability to flash flooding

Our project is based in the Upper Calder Valley, which suffered devastating flash flooding in June 2000 – it is one thing to think about climate change as an issue, but it is quite another to witness torrents of sewagy water surging through your home town. The flood caused £20 million pounds worth of damage, quite apart from the trauma to local residents. Thankfully, no-one was killed. (The treesponsibility book “Sowing the Seeds of Change” had a very narrow escape because it was on a printer’s pallet at the time, just inches about the dirty water!)

In the wake of the flooding, we realised that we needed to think long and hard about the environmental resilience of our valley. We are close to the Pennine watershed, and the uplands towards the headwater of the Calder are in a very poor state, suffering from erosion, mining and quarrying scars, and overgrazing. Global warming is inevitably going to intensify over the coming decades, and our area is likely to experience an increase in winter rainfall, and a greater likelihood of heavy storms, mudslides and flash flooding.

These considerations led us to launch our “After the Flood, the Forest” project. We are aiming to decrease our vulnerability to extreme weather events by tree-planting on the steep valley sides as a way of slowing run off, limiting erosion, and increasing the absorbency of the catchment. Our first big site was Midgelden Wood – six hectares of extremely steep damaged land, which we planted up in 2001, with funding from Yorkshire Forward. After five years, we are delighted to see the revegetation of bare shale, and the emergence of a healthy new young woodland. (The site is visible from the A681, a mile before the Lancashire border).

Enhanced biodiversity

Our local Biodiversity Action Plan calls for 5 hectares of new woodland planting each year, and we are pleased to fulfil this target. Overall, we are aiming to create a healthy and resilient landscape of interlinked woodland, hedgerow, moorland and meadow which will provide wildlife corridors, and extend existing ancient woodland, whilst preserving the ecological niches of rare moorland and meadow species, like the sky lark and the twite. All our main sites are checked out by members of the Upper Calder Valley Wildlife group, who advise us if our planting would have an adverse impact on birds or rare plant species – we always follow their advice. We would never plant on peat bogs or heather moorland, because of the special significance of such landscapes – they have important functions in providing habitats, absorbing water, and carbon storage.

Bioenergy resource

Obviously wood fuels will be part of the mix in any decentralised energy supply system, with local needs being met in the local area. Burning wood for heating does release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but it is a cyclical system, and a preferable alternative to the use of fossil fuels.
In 2007/8 we will be planting at least 6 hectares of new woodland specifically designed for local energy use. We will be keeping the same mix of trees (primarily alder, birch, rowan, oak, willow, ash) but planting at a closer (1.2m) spacing. The trees will all be coppiced at year 2, and thereafter we will establish a 7 year rotation – the first seventh will be coppiced at year nine, the second at year 10, etc.). This will give a continual supply of small diameter logs, ideal for stoves and boilers.

Local food

We are concerned at the lack of strategic thinking about food security. “Peak Oil” is likely to occur during this decade leading to very much higher energy prices, and the impacts of chaotic weather conditions will also impact on global food markets. Local security of supply will be vital.
We believe that permaculture and agro-forestry techniques are a forward-thinking response to these vulnerabilities. Not all of our planting is “woodland” – we also plant orchards and shelter-belts, and hope to expand this side of our work. By encouraging local people to grow and gather food locally we can displace air-freighted food imports with a genuinely sustainable local alternative.

Carbon sequestration

We are aware of scientific debate about the precise amount of carbon sequestered by trees – for example coniferous planting in temperature regions could actually increase emissions (by decreasing the planet’s albedo, and increasing soil transpiration). It is our judgement that our plantings will act to provide a small carbon sink – we are generally planting on lean soils, and our deciduous woodlands are very different from commercial softwood forestry. By working to minimize erosion, we are helping to lock up carbon in soils. We estimate that the trees we have planted so far will probably draw down several thousand tonnes of CO2 over a period of roughly 50 years, but there is one very important proviso:- this will only be possible if there is an unprecedented global effort to ensure that emissions peak within this decade and are rapidly reduced thereafter. The century ahead presents huge risks to Britain’s woodlands ranging from heatwaves and droughts leading to forest fires, to increased vulnerability to new pests and diseases. (Not to mention the possibility of a switch off of the Gulf Stream, leading to rapid regional cooling). These risks can only be reduced by switching to a low carbon economy.

Treesponsibility is a signatory to the Pledge Against Airport Expansion, and actively campaigns against “business as usual” developments which threaten the viability of our new woodlands.

An opportunity for education on climate change

Our tree-planting work brings us into contact with people from all walks of life, allowing us to spread information about how to live within ecological limits. We have developed resources such as our “one-planet lifestyle” leaflets, which we are very happy to share, and we can also offer our
“choice of futures” workshops, and “forest school” outings for schools.

For details email trees@riseup.net.