Woodland Trust

Description

The Woodland Trust is the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity, working to protect, restore and create native woods and trees.

It was founded in Devon in 1972 by retired farmer Kenneth Watkins, and it moved its headquarters to Grantham in Lincolnshire in 1978. It now has regional offices in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as well as its English head office, and looks after more than 1,000 woods across the UK, about a third of them ancient woodland. It has planted over 68 million trees since it was founded.

Its work covers protecting irreplaceable ancient woodland from loss, restoring damaged ancient woods, and creating new native woodland for people and wildlife. It carries out research and evidence-based conservation, and works to influence government and policymakers for stronger legal protection of woods and trees. It also runs citizen-science projects such as Nature’s Calendar, which records seasonal changes in nature, and the Ancient Tree Inventory, which maps ancient and veteran trees.

The Trust keeps its woods open for the public to visit and enjoy, and relies on members, volunteers and donors for support. It is funded through membership, legacies, donations, corporate partners and grants.