RHONDDA CYNON TAF ACTION FOR NATURE PLAN
If you’re reading this, you’ll be more than aware that we’re in the middle of a global climate emergency. One of the ways that governments across the world are trying to combat this issue is with huge tree-planting initiatives, hoping that the new forests will absorb the CO2 we’re continually projecting into the atmosphere. Other organisations, and even individuals who are looking to help fight the climate emergency in any way they can, have also started planting trees to help the cause.
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What isn’t broadcast so frequently about tree planting is the potentially negative impact it can have on biodiversity. By transplanting random trees into random places, we can disturb existing habitats, cause havoc for local ecosystems and even increase CO2 emissions.
RCT is one of the most wooded counties in the UK, with over 30% tree cover. This encompasses many different woodland habitats such as ancient woodland, hedgerows and wet woodland. In RCT the majority of land which is not currently built up or wooded supports other existing priority habitats – this includes virtually all the colliery spoil sites in the County Borough.
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These habitats are themselves of huge benefit for carbon capture. For example, peat bogs are the largest natural terrestrial carbon store [1]. They store more carbon than all other vegetation types in the world combined. An increasing body of research is also revealing that healthy grasslands are significant carbon sinks too, even more so than woodlands [2].
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The desire to plant trees on these other habitats, or to reclaim ‘derelict’ land (such as species rich coal spoil) run the very real risks of leading to a huge loss of habitats and species in RCT, as well as potentially even leading to carbon emissions from the soil.
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A recent report from Global Change Biology offers ‘ten golden rules’ for tree planting. As we take steps to tackle climate change in Wales, these steps will help you determine 'to plant or not to plant? Remember that when it comes to tackling the climate emergency, planting a tree shouldn’t always be the first port of call.
Step1; Look at what you already have
So you have a patch of land that you think could be suitable for tree planting? The first thing you should do is find out what habitats this land supports and what species are already present.
We recommend that you allow a year for this process, so that you can monitor the land across the seasons and see what plants and animals are already present. Make sure you include the autumn season and look for fungi!
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Missing out this step can lead to damage being done by accident. In the winter, most grassland habitats don't look like much at all, but in the summer they can look entirely different! A good example of where this went wrong was a tree planting drive in Cumbria on behalf of Nestle. Hundreds of trees were planted on an important wildflower meadow, which would have caused the loss of this important site entirely if the mistake hadn't been rectified.
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A very basic rule of thumb for checking if you should investigate further before planting trees is to take a look at the leaves growing in the area. If you can see more than five different types of leaves growing, then you should check with the LNP before progressing with a tree planting scheme.
Step 2; Check your soils
Comparison of soil types has revealed that some soils are more suitable for woodland expansion than others. Organic soils, i.e. soils that contain decomposed plant matter such as those in our peatlands and grasslands contain a high carbon content. This means that tree planting on these soils can actually damage the carbon store and lead to carbon being emitted. Research shows that tree planting on organic soils will not deliver climate benefit within a 2050 timeframe and may never do so on peat, and so should be avoided.
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Therefore, woodland creation should only be considered on inorganic soils.
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More information about this, along with a map showing organic and inorganic soils in the UK can be found here.
Step 3; Would natural regeneration work better?
Natural regeneration is the process by which trees and shrubs self-seed and spread. In the right conditions, most trees and shrubs are very good at it and in RCT the natural regeneration of woodland is an active process in our landscape. In fact, conservationists have to spend a lot of time actively preventing tree saplings from taking over other important habitats such as grasslands, either through conservation grazing or with a gang of volunteers with saws!
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As an example, large parts of RCT are of national significance for their rhos pasture habitats and the associated marsh fritillary butterfly metapopulations. The marsh fritillary requires connected sites for the maintenance of their meta-populations, but they are poor dispersers, and woodland in the wrong place can physically impede and reduce their capacity to maintain such connectivity. Butterfly Conservation and the Tidy Towns team spend many hours preventing natural regeneration from damaging the habitat of this butterfly.
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So a major thing to consider before you start spending money and time planting trees is, would this happen on its own if I just gave it time? The video on the left shows you how natural regeneration can be a valid method of expanding woodlands.
If you have been through the steps above and still feel that tree planting is the right way to go, then make sure you follow the top ten tips listed below to ensure that your scheme is a success.
