This Week’s Guest Blogger is James Godfrey-Faussett the founder of Wild Urban Spaces
The Native Forest.
We all understand and feel the need to plant trees. But if we switched our attention to planting forests, then we could repair the damage we have done, realign the environment and ultimately guarantee our future.
The key is to plant native forests, but why is native so important? Native trees are the ones that have been here in the UK since the last ice age, that’s around 7000 years ago!
As such these tree have taken the time to adapt to their environment and biology. Nature knows which are the most suitable trees to grow in each environment. These trees also provide the suitable homes for all the other levels of life. The biology is correct and harmonious for the insects and these other levels of life.
If we just left them too it, all would be well.
The problems came when man, as far back as the Bronze Age, introduced non-native species. Non-native trees are not properly adapted to the biology they are forced to grow in. This causes disease, imbalance and low levels of biodiversity.
A great example is the English Oak (native) verses the London Plane (non native). The Oak provides a habitat for at least 360 different species of insect. The London Plane provides a home for less than 3 species!
So native works for a reason. If we then up scale this to the forest, native is vitally important too. The trees in a natural native forest will grow in harmony, complimenting each other and preforming different roles. The Oak, Ash and Hawthorn ,for example, always used to grow together as they created a synergy of growth between them.
Biodiversity and a healthy ecosystem is the long-term result.
We should look to plant native forests, it’s not hard and is hugely rewarding for us, the environment and future generations.
This is basis of what we do at Wild Urban Spaces – creating rapid growth, low maintenance native forests in any environment.
For further information please go to www.wildurbanspaces.com