Latest Forest of Avon Trust News

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Welcome to the latest quarterly Forest of Avon Trust news.

We all hope that you and yours are safe and well.

Our outdoor activities and project work have been suspended due to Covid-19 restrictions and both Anna (Trees & Woodlands Officer) and Nicola (Health & Wellbeing Officer) are in furlough; we have also deferred the appointment of the Business & Partnerships Officer until July.

We are however continuing our work wherever we can and have secured a contract to refresh the Forest of Avon Plan (last updated in 2002) and for this to form the Tree & Woodland Strategy for the West of England (Avon). Work will focus on the Local Management Strategies in the 2002 Plan and producing new ones for the expanded Forest boundary (2005), shown in the image below. This work is a significant re-acknowledgement of the role and importance of the Forest of Avon Community Forest (and Trust).

We have also been working with local partners to prepare the Forest of Avon's submission as part of England's Community Forests' bid for Defra's Climate for Nature funding. Thank you to the organisations which helped us pull this information together so quickly. I am very hopeful that that this bid will secure funding for significant tree planting in the area, as well as providing capacity in the Trust team to support this work.

Please read on for a summary of our work before the Covid-19 restrictions came in to place.

Jon Clark, Executive Director, 21st April, 2020.

Image above: Forest of Avon Community Forest boundary.

Over the last 3 months our work has included:

Trees and Woodlands

Working with Bristol City Council, the Woodland Trust and Bristol Tree Forum to run the One Tree per Employee campaign as part of Replant Bristol; since mid-November we have raised over £25,000 to plant at least one tree for 2,500 employees from 65 businesses across Bristol:
Identifying and surveying willow pollards for North Somerset Council's Iconic Landscapes project;
Completing the final phase of the Defra Trees for Learning project, planting 3,680 trees in the Forest of Avon, involving 505 children from 10 schools; also planting 810 trees in Swindon, involving 90 children from 2 schools. We hope to include Trees for Learning 2 in the Defra Climate for Nature funding bid mentioned above;
Running coppice skills training for groups at Conham River Park and Eastwood Farm;
Working with business sponsor Canopy and Stars to plant 100 trees and also to help maintain an establishing woodland; and
Securing the MOREwoods contract for the Woodland Trust in this area.

Health & Wellbeing

Running a further annual Forest Friday's group for people with mental health needs, on behalf of charity Second Step. This quarter we have been working with Forestry England at Leigh Woods. All participants will receive a certificate detailing the skills and knowledge they have gained;
Undertaking practical conservation work with adults and young people with learning difficulties in Manor Woods, Bishopsworth. Thank you to the Manor Woods Valley Group for making this possible; and
Walking in Conham River Park and Penpole Woods with our Woodland Wellbeing groups for people with dementia and their carers, prior to the Covid-19 movement restrictions. This annual programme is run on behalf of Bristol Dementia Wellbeing Service.

Press & PR

Interviewing for the new post of Business & Partnerships Officer: we hope to be in a position to appoint in July. This role will further raise the Trust's profile with the business sector and more widely within the area; and
Communicating our message and activities through social media: we now have over 4,200 followers on Twitter@forestofavon and you can also find us on Facebook@forestofavontrust.

There are many great ways to support our work:

If you would like to actively support what we do, please click here and join us as a Friend from just £3/ month. Click on the icons below to access details of this and our other supporter schemes.