Celebrating National Tree Week 2021
The Parks Trust are a self-financing charity caring for over 6,000 acres of parks, woodlands and lakes in Milton Keynes. This November we are celebrating National Tree Week which runs from 27th November to 5th December.
National Tree Week marks the beginning of the winter tree planting season (November to March). The campaign originally begun in the 1960’s as a response to the Dutch Elm Disease crisis which wiped out more than 20 million trees in the UK. Its success continued and in 1973 we saw the ‘Plant a tree in ‘73’ campaign spring to life bringing communities together in a combined effort to plant as many trees as possible throughout the year. Due to the success of these two campaigns, National Tree Week now happens every year in UK, during this week communities, organisations, businesses and schools from all over the UK celebrate and plant trees.
At The Parks Trust, we have a landscaping team of over 30 people with around 300 years of experience between them. Since 1992 when the Trust was established, we have planted nearly 1 million trees and shrubs across Milton Keynes as we strive to manage a sustainable landscape. Over the course of this winter we will plant 8,200 additional trees across the city.
This November, we partnered with Community Trees Milton Keynes to jointly planted almost 500 trees at Middleton Wood Meadow, a tree planting project started earlier in the year. Find out more about how you can get involved with Community Trees Milton Keynes here. You can also support tree planting at The Parks Trust by making a donation towards our tree planting schemes at either Middleton Wood Meadow or Newlands Remembrance Walk.
Trees are an incredibly important part of our ecosystem. As the biggest plants on the planet, they give us oxygen to breath, store carbon and stabilise the soil. They also give life to the world’s wildlife by providing habitats and a source of food for thousands of species, from the tiniest insects to the largest mammals.
If you'd like to learn more about the trees in our parks and find out how to identify the different species, book a place at our Tree ID Walk on 24th January 2022.
