No images? Click here Hello,Welcome to a new style Forest of Avon Trust newsletter for Summer 2020 which we are trialling and will be working on for the next newsletter. We hope you like it but do feel free to send us your views - to partnerships@forestofavontrust.org. We are here to create change in your local area that serves you, everyone in our community, helping us enjoy all the benefits of local trees and woodland. The Covid 19 lockdown has been such a difficult time for everyone in different ways, including everyone that we aim to serve, particularly those who may be more vulnerable. So our focus for the next few months is not just on our many impactful projects and collaborations which we talk about below, but also on how we can increase the resilience, inclusion and adaptability of all of our work and its impact to help our local community withstand future challenges such as a pandemic, climate change and the increasing impacts of pollution on our health. We will also ask for your input into how we can do this. We have also seen a growing movement to improve social justice and reduce inequality. We aim to address inequality and discrimination through our work and ethos. We have done this, to an extent, by supporting young people, children and disadvantaged groups into woodlands and into learning where they might find opportunities to grow and develop skills. Being in nature is a great way for people to connect irrespective of their background. At the same time those worst off in society are often those who have less chance to get out into nature and woodlands. With all of this in mind, we continue to look for opportunities to do more and we will be exploring new ideas over the course of the next few months. As a team, we are re-energised whilst slowly and safely coming out of the lockdown and we are committed to making up time with innovative projects we are already engaged with and some we are hoping to start in the near future. The Forest of Avon Plan and West of England Tree and Woodland Strategy will provide a real expertise-driven basis for our longer term goals and actions into the future, for the benefit of all. Once this is launched we will be looking to collaborate and engage with as many people, groups and organisations as possible in bringing to life a greater vision for the Forest of Avon! There is a lot to be done here on ‘our patch’ of Avon and we are up for the challenge! We hope you are too! WellbeingNicola in our Health and Wellbeing Team has been leading our Forest Friday groups, who attend through Bristol Mental Health’s Rehabilitation Service with Second Step. The group have been finding new venues closer to home to avoid a Covid 19 risk in travelling further afield (or 'aforest' we should say!). This has led to some lovely experiences had by the group in rain or heatwave, under trees or finding bugs and butterflies in the grass, creating pretty flower and leaf art and watching the Little Grebe which has bred in St George park this year. The team have been creating Wellbeing videos for those living with dementia. These individuals would normally be out in the woodland enjoying the sessions. There are now plans to restart these sessions on an individual basis. It will be a while until the Health and Wellbeing work is back to how it was before the lockdown but the team have been working hard to keep the work going and resume when it is safe to do so, with new methods of working. If any groups think they would be a natural fit for our Health and Wellbeing sessions do contact us. We cannot provide immediate funding but could explore how we could both work to seek funding for such a course in the future. If we are aware of the need, we can keep it in mind. Trees and WoodlandAs well as the strategic work, the team has been busy working on the delivery of two projects as well as the usual maintenance of the woodlands we oversee. We are of course always working on identifying new woodland planting opportunities - get in touch at partnerships@forestofavontrust.org with your ideas or if you have land available. MOREwoods with Woodland Trust Of course we all agree we would like more woods! The Woodland Trust provide national schemes to support tree planting on a large scale. MOREwoods is one such scheme and we are commissioned to support and advise on tree planting on large multiple hectare sites in the region. Anna has been working with the Woodland Trust in allocating and surveying the sites. More information will be up on our website soon.
Bristol Greenstreets - Urban Tree Challenge Fund This project, led by Bristol City Council, funded through the Forestry Commission and in partnership with the Bristol Tree Forum, will provide a whopping 590 street trees in Bristol! Planting will start following consultation with residents. Anna, our Community Tree and Woodland Officer, has been identifying and mapping sites for all of these trees (10 trees in 59 locations) ready for consultation. The trees are being provided where they are most needed for the benefit of local residents. Find out more soon! Strategy and Planning Most of us do not see the amount of work, special expertise, training, knowledge and resource that goes into tree planting, tree care, woodland planning and management. The lasting impact of the work we do is dependent on all of the detailed planning and delivery. The Forest of Avon Trust has just completed a commission from the West of England Partnership to draft The Forest of Avon Plan: A Tree and Woodland Strategy for the West of England.The Strategy, which is planned to be published later this year or early next, interprets Nature Recovery Network mapping to set out where tree and woodland planting delivers the greatest benefit, along with tree and woodland planting principles, priorities and investment opportunities.The Strategy will update the Forest of Avon Plan, providing the context for the charity’s tree and woodland work going forwards. Watch this space, as there will be more news on the Plan and our forthcoming partnership tree planting programme.
Business and Partnerships for our futureAlex started in this role in July and is working with our existing business partnerships. Do you know a school looking for an orchard? We have a wonderful donation in from Churchman Thornhill Finch architects to fund a school orchard project. This is to celebrate their 5th anniversary. Do you know of a school that would like an orchard? Planting timing can be flexible with Covid 19 restrictions in mind. We have planted 70 school orchards already and have worked with hundreds of children in tree planting projects. The orchards are a fantastic asset for our schoolchildren to learn about the benefits of trees. We focus on partnerships to maximise the impact we can all have together. This includes local businesses, local groups, landowners and any organisation with similar aims to ours. We aim to support a long term connection that can grow and develop as the Forest of Avon does. We want the Forest of Avon area to be the first in the UK to achieve its desired tree planting targets - as a collaborative, collective effort! If you have an area of land that could be suitable for tree planting or any ideas about tree planting in your area - contact us now to find out what the options are. We are a determined charity, embedded in our local community, working for you to develop trees and woodlands for all the benefits they bring. If you’d like to be part of this journey, in any way - get in touch! Call Alex on 07779 787011 or email partnerships@forestofavontrust.org
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