PARTNERS and friends of Mersey Forest came together last month at the University of Chester to celebrate its success in transforming the landscape of Merseyside and Cheshire over the last three decades.
The Mersey Forest was one of the original community forests created across England, of which there are now 15, all made up of a mix of community and private woodland, urban trees and greenspaces, wooded habitat corridors and hedgerows.
The Mersey Forest Partnership, which includes local authorities, national agencies, non-governmental organisations and the community, works in partnership with the Mersey Forest team in developing the forest plan which sets the direction for the organisation.
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Some of the key projects supported over the last 30 years include:
- Helping to manage the Sefton Coast Pine Woodlands
- The award-winning Urban GreenUP programme in Liverpool
- Bold Forest Park and the Wasteland to Woodland project in St Helens, transforming a former colliery into a vibrant forest and green space for residents and visitors to enjoy
- Finding new uses for vacant industrial land in Knowsley through woodland creation
- Northwich Woodlands, now a major recreational area on land that was once waste
- Greening Wirral Waters, to enable regeneration
- Agroforestry projects, weaving trees into productive agriculture in Cheshire East
- One of the original partners of the Northern Forest, which stretches from Liverpool to Hull and aims to establish 50 million new trees.
Paul Nolan, who has worked at the Mersey Forest since 1994 and is the current director, said: “It’s been fantastic to be part of the Mersey Forest’s journey over the last 30 years, working alongside so many people who share the same ambition to deliver a greener future for the communities of Merseyside and Cheshire.
“Although we’ve made massive progress, planting millions of trees in the area, that is only one element of what we do. The stories of the impact we have on peoples’ lives are really what makes community forestry special. Whether it is a life saved through the Natural Health Service or the people who’ve benefited from our Trees for Learning project, or even the homes that don’t flood because of natural flood-management initiatives, connecting people with nature is central to our work.
“Planting a tree is a symbol of hope and I hope the forest continues to bring joy to local people, making the places we live, work and visit vibrant and sustainable communities.”
The UK government’s new Minister for Nature, Mary Creagh, also visited a number of sites across the Mersey Forest last month, to hear about the partnership’s important work and how it is delivering a range of benefits for people and nature.
Minister Creagh – whose brief includes forestry – finished her tour with a visit to a newly planted woodland at Chester Zoo, where the Mersey Forest has supported the zoo to create a vast new area of woodland on land in Chester spanning almost 10 hectares. Almost 19,000 trees were planted last planting season, transforming a low-biodiversity silage field into a new sanctuary for UK wildlife.
Paul added: “Woodlands and trees can be incorporated in both urban and rural communities to great effect, and it’s been fantastic to show the minister how, through successful partnerships, we are delivering 35 per cent of all woodland planting in England.”
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