Forest for Cornwall hits two million trees with £8.76m boost

A young whip in a wire guard, a spade left standing in the turf and the sun dropping over the water. Multiply that quiet scene by two million and you have a rough measure of what Cornwall has put in the ground since 2019.

The Forest for Cornwall has now passed two million trees, and a fresh injection of government money is set to push that number higher.

The Cornwall Council programme has secured £8.76m from Defra’s Trees Programme to increase tree-planting across the region over the next four years. The money moves the scheme closer to its target of 8,000 hectares of new tree canopy by 2035, set out in the authority’s Grow Nature Action Plan.

What two million trees looks like

Since 2019, residents, farmers, businesses and organisations have come together to plant across communities, farms, schools and streets. A total of 2,025 hectares have been transformed, and the detail underneath that figure tells the story:

• 825 hectares of new woodland
• 167 new orchards
• 495 hectares of agroforestry across 121 farms
• 1,259 trees in streets and urban locations
• 82,665 metres of new hedgerow

The programme feeds into both the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Nature Recovery Strategy and the Marine Nature Recovery Framework, and it has already drawn earlier funding from Defra’s Nature for Climate Fund. You can read more about the Forest for Cornwall and its future funding in the council’s story map.

‘A national endorsement’

Cllr Loic Rich, Cornwall’s cabinet member for environment and climate change, thanked everyone who had played a part.

“I want to thank you one and all for helping contribute to the Forest for Cornwall. This funding is a national endorsement of our accessible and flexible approach to supporting and financing tree-planting to benefit residents, businesses and farmers,” he said.

“For residents the Forest for Cornwall enhances our local landscape, towns and villages, bringing the beauty and benefits of trees to our doorsteps to improve our health and happiness, providing much-needed shade during this prolonged period of heat. For farmers it is helping them increase farm resilience and for many local businesses it is contributing to our nature-based economy.”

Loic pointed to the wider gains too. “Trees, hedgerows and woodland also bring benefits for nature by providing homes for birds, mammals and insects, helping keep our rivers and streams clean and cool, reducing run-off, and improving the health of our soils. More tree cover can also bring wider benefits through helping to reduce flooding in coastal towns and building resilience to a changing climate.”

From a Cardinham farm to a Camborne nursery

The programme offers support and funding to farmers who want to diversify with tree-planting. Ben Thomas, who owns Treveddoe Farm near Cardinham, has put in 2,500 trees with help from the Forest for Cornwall team.

“Without the knowledge, contacts and funding it would have been hard to find the time to get the project started,” Ben said. “In the end we have ended up with a brilliant agroforestry network on the farm which is already delivering. And it is engaging lots of farmers also.”

In Camborne, the Kehelland Trust used its support to set up a community tree nursery. It means young people and adults with learning and/or physical disabilities can take part in collecting and sowing seeds, and in establishing native trees and orchard.

Horticultural coordinator Sally Pyner said the funding made the difference. “We could not have done this without the funding from Forest for Cornwall. It’s meant that on site we can focus on our learner experience and at the same time we’ve got a lovely product we can share with the wider community.”

📷Credit: Forest for Cornwall