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The Mersey Forest Plan

Our principles

Did you know?

Over 900,000 tonnes of CO2 are sequestered by habitats across The Mersey Forest

Two people planting a tree with bushes and trees in background.

What

  1. Establish trees, woods, and other habitats
    1. Aspire broadly to meet the 3:30:300 ambition; where every home can see 3 trees, every neighbourhood has 30% tree cover, and everyone lives within 300m of an accessible green space with trees. Recognising that individual local authorities have their own adopted accessible greenspace standards, and that tree cover ambitions vary across our area.
    2. Deliver across urban and rural areas, in hard and soft landscapes, from small to large scale, and including woods, trees outside of woods, orchards, agroforestry, hedgerows and hedgerow trees, and wet woodlands.
    3. Bespoke establishment schemes meet the needs of land owners and managers and balance the delivery of benefits for people, nature and climate, prioritising areas of greatest need for each. They are informed by our “Where” principles, and follow UK Forestry Standard and other best practice, including in relation to improving soil condition and health, and climate, pest and disease resilience. Consideration is given to constraints and opportunities of a scheme, including agricultural land quality, biodiversity connectivity, areas prioritised for other habitats, peat, landscape, heritage, soils, and utilities.
    4. Incorporate other habitats, open space, scrub, edge habitats, and hedgerows into tree and woodland establishment schemes.
    5. Encourage natural regeneration, as well as planting of trees and woods. Use mixed species, including native, non-native, broadleaf and coniferous trees, as appropriate to each scheme. Consider the provenance of trees and seeds, including using local and UK and Ireland Sourced and Grown stock.
    6. Ensure appropriate aftercare to ensure that new trees thrive.

 

  1. Look after trees, woods, and other habitats
    1. Seek to look after, protect, and restore trees, woods, and other habitats. Be part of a step change to bring them into appropriate and proactive long-term management to improve their condition.
    2. Bespoke management approaches and interventions are developed to meet the needs of land owners and managers and balance the delivery of benefits for people, nature and climate, prioritising areas of greatest need for each. They are informed by our “Where” principles, and follow UK Forestry Standard and other best practice, including in relation to improving soil condition and health, and climate, pest and disease resilience.
    3. Incorporate other habitats, open space, scrub, edge habitats, and hedgerows as part of management activities.
    4. Work together to explore ways towards a circular economy to improve tree and woodland management, and contribute to timber security, and a thriving and resilient timber industry. This includes encouraging local production, management, harvesting, processing and consumption; revitalising traditional skills such as coppicing and hedge laying; ensuring that timber and arisings from interventions are used as a resource, rather than just being chipped; connecting traditional and innovative timber and wood products and fuel with local markets, including artisanal makers; and using management as an opportunity to involve people, develop skills, and grow the culture.

 

  1. Grow a culture of trees, woods, and other habitats
    1. Act together to explore and grow a culture where people are intertwined with trees, woods, and other habitats. Cultivate a mindshift and restore a relationship of respect, responsibility, reciprocity, and love. Where we cherish the benefits trees give us, and we give back in return by growing more and looking after them better, establishing a loop of giving and taking.
    2. Co-create and deliver what we do together, using it as an opportunity to grow a culture of trees, woods, and other habitats.
    3. Working together to weave trees, woods, and other habitats into everyday life and across all aspects of human endeavour. This includes our economic, health, education, and agricultural systems, place-making, built environment, transport, planning, recreation and leisure, business, and corporate responsibility.
    4. Integrate the arts, storytelling, landscape and heritage throughout what we do, as powerful relationship building tools. Focus on bringing beauty, joy, awe, belonging, exploration, spontaneity, play, and hope, through creative and informative interventions. Encourage trees, woods, and other habitats to be a source of inspiration, materials, and a setting for the arts and artisans.
    5. Collaborate with others to develop education, training, skills, and jobs, covering all aspects of a tree’s life cycle.