Endangered trees find a home in Cheshire East

One of the UK’s rarest trees – at one time close to extinction – has found a home in Cheshire East, thanks to a fantastic collaboration of passionate nature lovers.

The black poplar is one of the country’s rarest native trees, with fewer than 7,000 remaining in the UK as a result of the combined impacts of deforestation, habitat reduction and the preference for faster growing non-native species.

But a countywide collaborative project, between Cheshire East Council, The Mersey Forest, Chester Zoo and the Environment Agency, has meant that the species has now found a new home on a large planting site situated next to junction 18 of the M6 in Cranage.

The council was able to identify two planting sites where black poplar can thrive and the first group were planted at an Environment Agency volunteer day last month.

The council received grant funding through the national ’Trees For Climate’ programme which is funded by Defra through the Nature for Climate Fund and administered by The Mersey Forest.

The programme has funded the trees and planting costs of the mixed native woodland at this site, plus the ongoing maintenance to ensure they thrive. Additional funding has also been received from the Environment Agency for the tree-planting.

Species such as oak, silver birch, cherry, hornbeam and rowan make up the woodland, alongside the black poplar. They help to boost biodiversity in the area, improving the soil structure, natural flood management and improving air quality.

Councillor Mick Warren, chair of Cheshire East Council’s environment and communities committee, said:

“The council remains absolutely committed to its carbon neutral ambitions and has reiterated them in the new Cheshire East Plan. Projects like this that combine carbon reduction with an additional benefit like the reintroduction of black poplar to the area are especially positive.

“Projects of this scale are simply not possible to achieve without the dedicated efforts of a number of organisations and you would be hard pushed to find many better examples of partner collaborations than this.”

Councillor Sam Corcoran, Cheshire East Council’s environment and climate change member champion, said:

“I am particularly proud of this project because of the partnerships that Cheshire East Council has formed. We know that tackling the climate and ecological emergencies are big ambitions and they need people, groups and businesses to come together with local government and make a difference.

“I was delighted to be involved on the Environment Agency volunteer day and I’m extremely grateful for the huge contributions that have been made by Chester Zoo, The Mersey Forest, The Environment Agency and all their volunteers to get this project off the ground.”

Cheshire East Council has a very ambitious programme of tree-planting. It is working towards planting a total of 120ha of natural woodland across the borough as a method of carbon sequestration and ecological benefit. 

Carbon sequestration is the process in which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and held in solid or liquid form. The Mersey Forest has funding available to support landowners and land managers in the area to plant trees on suitable land.

For more information and advice on woodland creation, visit: 

www.merseyforest.org.uk

Watch a short film promoting the work of this collaborative project, where the key partners talk about what inspired them to get involved, here...