Environmentally, Community Forests are a breath of fresh air. They help to boost biodiversity, combat flooding, play an important role in the fight against climate change, and create healthy, sustainable landscapes.

The creation of The Mersey Forest in and around our towns and cities is replacing dereliction, decay and neglect with a diverse mosaic of woodlands, parks, green corridors, ponds and wildlife habitats. These environments contribute to biodiversity as flora and fauna thrive in the availability of new woodland areas.

Badgers, deer, foxes, and weasels all find their home in the Forest, along with many species of birds and insects.

Urban trees can help reduce air pollution. For example trees filter fine, sooty particles known as PM10s which can worsen asthma and bronchitis. Research has found that mature, mixed woodland captures airborne particles at approximately three times the rate of grassland (for more information see http://www.es.lancs.ac.uk/people/cnh/docs/UrbanTrees.htm).

And it isn’t just the rainforests that are important in our efforts to combat climate change. Through a process known as carbon sequestration, native trees and woodlands absorb and store carbon whilst they are alive, thereby offsetting some of our carbon dioxide emissions and helping to limit climate change. What’s more, trees and woodlands are even better suited to helping us adapt for climate change. They intercept and allow the infiltration of rain water into the ground, helping to reduce the risk of flooding on agricultural land and in the built environment. In addition they reduce temperatures through shading and evaporative cooling (where energy is used in the plant’s transpiration process rather than becoming heat that we can feel) and provide corridors through which species can potentially move to colonise new habitats with more suitable climatic conditions.

Woodlands also have the potential to create renewable energy through energy crops such as willow and poplar. Renewable energy is becoming a national priority for investment and growth, as we slowly wean ourselves off old fossil fuel technologies. The Mersey Forest Partnership is exploring biomass wood based energy systems - to find new ways for forestry to fuel the region.

To find out how this work fits into The Mersey Forest's strategy, click here.