The Botanical News... Zoo join campaign to increase number of native trees in the UK

CHESTER Zoo has rolled up its sleeves to join a tree planting movement aiming to double the number of native trees and woods in the UK.

Staff from the zoo teamed up with children from Acresfield Primary School in Upton to help pupils plant 50 tree saplings - marking the launch of this year’s RHS 'Britain in Bloom' campaign, which aims to increase the number of trees in Britain.

The move comes as a recent United Nations (UN) report highlighted the UK as the second-least wooded country in Europe with just 12 per cent forest cover.

Finland topped the league of forest-clad countries with 73 per cent cover and Sweden, Slovenia, Latvia and Estonia all exceed 50 per cent.

In an attempt to change this, RHS 'Britain in Bloom' and the Woodland Trust are donating 200,000 free tree saplings to be planted by communities across the UK, including Chester.

The giveaway is in support of the UN’s 2011 International Year of Forests. Chester Zoo will be planting 400 of these trees around its ponds, hedgerows and visitor car parks as well as in parts of the local community.

Mark Sparrow, Chester Zoo’s curator of horticulture, said: “The idea of the tree-planting movement is to bring people together to help improve their local communities through long-term, sustainable projects, which are also beneficial for wildlife."

The zoo also hopes the project will help create awareness about the decline of some of the UK’s native tree species.

“When people hear that a species is threatened they usually instantly think about animals. But in fact, there are some native plant species that are now rarer than the giant panda,” added Mr Sparrow.

“But hopefully, if we can get more and more people caring about the trees and woodlands around them, then not only will threatened species start to thrive, we will also all live in greener, more pleasant surroundings.”