Trees appeal to landowners (From York Press)

Trees appeal to landowners

8:28am Friday 18th November 2011 in Eco info

AN appeal has been sent out to landowners in the Yorkshire Dales asking them to plant more trees.

The West Yorkshire-based initiative White Rose Forest, which was set up to encourage more tree-planting, has now expanded into North Yorkshire and says the move is designed to help deal with the effects of climate change.

The Forestry Commission says the Dales has a tree-coverage rate of only two per cent, compared with the Yorkshire-wide figure of 5.8 per cent.

Guy Thompson, White Rose Forest project manager, said: “We need to start thinking about trying to double our coverage.

“It helps with climate change, it reduces the risk of flooding, there’s a local supply of wood fuel and it’s also good for habitat networks.

“Landowners can really contribute to that by putting some trees on their land.”