Planting seeds of success

I’m in a van driven by Ian Butterfield, project manager with Forest of Bradford. We are heading up Wrose Road, admiring the autumn leaves in a swathe of woodland on the hillside at Wrose Brow – an area that was previously home to a clay quarry. With a mix of gold, yellow and green, the blanket of trees is uplifting on a grey, drizzly day.

Says Ian: “Trees are so important – they provide colour, habitat for wildlife, and shelter, as well as health benefits. Trees can completely transform an area – this hillside looks fantastic, particularly at this time of year.”

I love trees. So much so that I’m forever making a nuisance of myself with my local council, applying for trees in the neighbourhood to be protected. And I’m pleased to say that I’ve been successful on more occasions than not.

So I’m thrilled to be accompanying Ian to help him plant more trees, as part of Forest of Bradford’s ongoing planting programme.

Part of Bradford Environmental Action Trust, Forest of Bradford was set up 11 years ago to increase woodland cover throughout the district. The district is short on woodland cover, with an average of just 4.2 per cent, compared with the UK average of 12 per cent, but thanks to the efforts of thousands of people who have helped with the project, that shortfall is gradually being reduced.

Forest of Bradford works in partnership with schools, businesses and an army of volunteers – all who have put in time and effort to create a wooded landscape in both the urban and rural areas of the district. For the past decade 30,000 broad-leaved trees have been planted every year, giving Bradford an extra 330,000 trees at more than 250 sites.

The hard work is certainly paying off. Just last week I remember looking across from Manningham Lane and noticing how leafy the hillsides at the opposite side of the valley looked – quite different from when I started at the T&A 17 years ago.

We park at the end of a track and Ian takes eight small trees from the back of the van. They were grown from acorns collected in Northcliffe Woods by Shipley resident and ardent Forest of Bradford supporter Joan Milligan. “Joan does a fantastic job. She has been growing trees for us for about five years,” he tells me. “She collects any trees that have seeded and grows more than 1,000 trees every year for us.”

The trees are sessile oak – hardy, native trees. “We have two types of native oak,” explains Ian – what the ecology graduate doesn’t know about trees you could write on a stem of an acorn.

“There’s the English oak and sessile oak, which is tougher and found more commonly in the north and west.”

The leaves are similar in shape, but the sessile oak leaves have stalks, and acorns that grow straight off the stem. On the English oak, the opposite is the case. Both can grow to more than 500 years old.

We collect our spades and head up the hill until we reach a footpath leading into a copse of younger-looking trees.

The saplings are planted at around two years old. “You get a stronger, healthier tree when planted around this age,” says Ian. “If you dig them up to transplant them later on, you would chop away some of the roots and the tree would spend years replacing them. If you plant them small, they are getting their roots established straight away.”

Each needs to be between 60cm and 90cm tall to ensure it remains visible above the grass. “The grass will grow quite tall and you need to be able to find your trees,” says Ian. “We keep the grass weeded around the tree so it does not have to compete for water and light.” The grass around the trees is kept short for two years, to give them the best chance of survival.

The trees are planted about two metres apart, and are frequently surrounded by silver birch and elder trees. “Some people think that that is a lot of trees in one patch of ground, but it is exactly the same principle as penguins in a huddle – those in the middle will be sheltered and once they have roots down they are fine and will grow well.

“When a tree is so small, all the odds are stacked against it, so we try to give it the best opportunity.”

Five years after planting, the trees are thinned out. Those that are small enough when removed are replanted, and those that are not are cut and used for habitats for insects, or for firewood. Nothing is wasted.

Ian previously worked for the Forestry Commission and was a member of the Countryside Commission’s Task Force Trees programme set up to replant and manage woodlands in south-east England after the Great Storm of 1987.

Across the Bradford district, the type of tree varies depending on its position. Relatively high, exposed areas are suited to hardy mountain ash. “They can be seen on hilltops, where they have to cope with the westerly winds,” says Ian.

We set to work. Ian uses the heel of his boot to scrape away the turf and other vegetation to reveal a bare patch of soil – a technique called screefing. “This is so it does not have grass to compete with,” he explains. “Next you need to ensure that the tree goes into the soil to the same level as it was in the pot.”

With so many trees to plant every year, digging a hole for each would take a lot of time and energy. I didn’t know there was another, easier way, until Ian demonstrates ‘notch planting’, in which you dig a T-shape in the soil and prise it open to reveal a gap.

“It opens up and you can see the clay underneath,” says Ian. “You have enough of a pocket to pop in the tree. Then heal it in, making sure there are no air pockets.”

This method of planting is ideal if the soil is deep and crumbly. The notches, or holes must be big enough to take the roots, so they are not bent or broken. It is a lot easier than jabbing away at the earth with a spade.

Once the tree is secure, Ian tells me to tread carefully but firmly around the young plant.

We each plant three little oaks. “We want a woodland that is dominated by oak as that is the kind of woodland that used to be found in this part of the world,” says Ian.

The type of soil largely dictates what to plant, with questions being asked on how well drained it is, how exposed, and the acidity – the pH – of the soil.

“We go with a spade and see how deep it is,” says Ian. “In the really rich soil at the valley bottom we will plant more ash, and in wetter ground we will plant willow and ash.”

Since the project began, Forest of Bradford has also planted around four miles of new hedge in the district.

With our trees in the ground, we walk back to the van. Now every time I spot that stretch of woodland, I’ll think of my three oaks adding their majesty to the Forest of Bradford.

For a Christmas present with a difference that will last for generations and benefit the local environment, Forest of Bradford has the answer. Under the Plant A Tree scheme, for £5 a native tree can be planted as part of the district planting programme. A gift card, which will be posted to you, costs an extra £2, and gives details of your tree. Electronic gift cards are free. For more details ring Bradford Environmental Action Trust on (01274) 718420, visit beat.org.uk, or e-mail info@beat.org.uk