Ancient and Sacred Trees is very proud to be supporting grassroots volunteer community tree planting projects in the UK for A ‘Green and Growing CommuniTree’. Save The Oaks is a volunteer run tree loving community campaign saving oak saplings and giving them away to people and groups to plant.
As founder of AST I am delighted to be a volunteer with Save the Oaks. I’m in good company with a passionate team of people including Rob McBride Tree Hunter, Independent growers and activists – Mark Shipperlee, Rebekah West, Rob Newby, Frome Future Forest Project – Ben Gray, Cambridgeshire Tree Planting Community – Duncan Starr, to name but a few. This campaign has been set up by James Murray-White who founded Extinction Rebellion Rewilding along with Natasha Somers and Bell Selkie, whose group aims are to rewild and regenerate. This includes to plant trees, create forest gardens, encourage community permaculture and sharing.
Save The Oaks
“It is a small positive action in the midst of a global crisis to save thousands of saplings from destruction and plant them in the UK with love." This fits exactly with the ethos of Ancient and Sacred Trees love and beauty-as-activism for a Green and Growing CommuniTree.
Last year the media was full of reports about thousands of oak saplings due to be burned because the UK Government had reneged on its' promise of a national tree planting scheme. It was this that spurred the Save The Oaks Campaign.
Oak trees support over 350 different lifeforms and as they age become ecosystems in their own right. It takes hundreds of years to reach this point so we need to be planting more trees right now to ensure a sustainable future. The UK is one of the least wooded countries in Europe if not the world with less than 12% tree cover.
(Below see some publicly shared images from members sharing their love of oaks in our public social media groups).
How Can You Plant an Oak Tree with Ancient and Sacred Trees?
Save The Oaks had a crowd funder to cover the cost of the saplings.
Now the money raised by our Ancient and Sacred Trees CommuniTree for each tree will not only recoup the cost the cost of these saplings, it will also fund tree guards, transport etc AND raise funds towards land purchase for even more trees and rewilding.
This means tree planting funding can continue even once the trees are planted bringing in funds to cover their costs. Importantly it will help to make the project sustainable in the long term with the aim of buying land to be owned in trust by the British people.
So, no matter what time of the year it is you can plant a tree! There are lots of ways you can plant oak trees with Ancient and Sacred Trees. With hand-personalised ecards, certificates, organic tee shirts and more there are lots of ways you can help.
Plant a tree on memory of a loved one who has passed away and to help grow a future for your children. You could even have a memorial in our AncesTree pages.
The Tree - A Beautifully Written Book About the Life of An Oak Tree.
AST is also delighted to present The Tree, a fabulous, deep, rich, profound book about an oak tree. Written from the point of the tree, I guarantee you will look at the world in a deeper more beautiful and connected way. AST members receive a special discount. To join us is free, just sign up to my newsletter. Sustainably produced and printed using the latest eco-friendly technology, every copy of The Tree purchased plants an Oak Tree.
Launch coming soon!
Where Will The Oaks Be Planted?
You may rest assured that ALL sites are carefully vetted for suitability so that the trees are planted in the correct ecosystems. With distribution points being arranged across the country, examples of those homes include:
Groundwork South and North Tyneside – Tyne and Wear – 50 saplings – These trees would be planted at an environmental education centre which exists to help people connect with nature. The site is already sensitively managed to balance conservation with community enjoyment and education.
Wild Narberth – Pembrokeshire – 100 saplings – We plan to plant and raise awareness of the climate and ecological crisis, working together with local schools and nurseries and raise community spirit.
Exeter XR Samba Band – Devon – 5 saplings – For the love of trees and community spirit: We rehearse in local parks where the trees provide us with shelter on sunny or rainy days, they give us energy for our drumming, and we give our energy to stopping their destruction.
Holme House Farm Co-Housing Group – Cumbria – 50 saplings – We are restoring and extending native woodland on our community land. It will create a link in a wildlife corridor along a river protecting the banks and linking two ancient woodlands. It will be enjoyed by us and local residents who use the adjacent rights of way.
Marlow District Scouts – Buckinghamshire – 100 saplings – Our remote and rural campsite, provides outdoors and camping experiences for youth groups, schools, Scouts, Guides and Duke of Edinburgh. For many children it is their first and sometimes only experience of camping in the peace & quiet of the countryside.
East Cleveland Arts CIC – Cleveland – 100 saplings – Working with Beyond Housing, our local housing association, the trees would still be there long after we are all gone and would take pride of place in what is now a gorgeously regenerated public space We will also be using some of the trees to help establish as community garden and art space in the village of Brotton where we are based.
Calderdale Youth Climate Strikers – West Yorkshire – 1000 saplings – An active group of 20 young people aged 8-14 who have been working together for two years organising monthly climate strikes here. They decided they wanted to take practical positive action locally and chose to plant and care for trees. They see this as a way of fostering engagement from other young people.
Ekah Foundation CIC – Lancashire – 500 saplings – We work with people on the margins of society who understand the importance of trees.
Ian Atkinson – Worcestershire – 1,000 saplings – Ian is creating a new woodland across 8 acres with around 1,000 oaks from Save the Oaks, alongside another 2,500 native trees species, in wavy lines with the Extinction Rebellion symbol plotted out in Scots Pine in the centre.
Brigantia Group – Cumbria – 1,000 saplings – A group in the process of forming a co-operative composed of tree planters and people who care deeply about the ecology of the land. They have a mission to increase the woodland density of the uplands and biodiversity, and to be a force working towards the management of the land for the common good.
Long Lands Common – 1,000 saplings – Yorkshire – Long Lands Common is in the process of creating a Community Benefits Society to buy 30 acres of farmland on the urban fringe between Harrogate & Knaresborough. They have so far raised £360K with widespread support for the project locally and around the world. The purchase of the fields and planting of a community woodland and nature reserve will be of benefit to the local communities, educational for the school groups involved and encourage wildlife habitats.
Laughton Greenwood – 1,000 saplings – East Sussex – Group restoring 171 acres of ancient woodland. The aim is to benefit the community in the widest sense from managing wetlands to mitigate flooding risks downstream, to improving air quality, capturing carbon and providing some recreation space.
Hardwick Estate – Oxfordshire – 1000 saplings – We will plant the 1000 saplings from Save the Oaks amongst other varieties of native species as part of the strategy to have a diversity of trees on the estate and also to mitigate the risk of full reliance on one variety.
Ancient trees are are holders of stories, culture and history and we need to be planting the ancient trees of the future as they take hundreds of years to grow.
"This 800-year-old oak in Mistley, Essex is said to have sheltered alleged witches from Britain’s most infamous and ruthless witch hunter, Matthew Hopkins" AST member Sarah Jane
Plant an Oak Tree!
Take a look in our Tree Planting shop and reforest Britain, funding the people on the ground doing the work. The money does not go to fund expensive ad campaigns, or fat-cat administrators, it goes to where it is needed most. The Save The Oaks team have worked incredibly hard to plan and coordinate this grassroots, or should we say, tree roots project.
In funding the planting of a tree you cover the cost not just of the sapling but help make this project sustainable by covering all the related costs AND raise money to help buy land PLUS you get something lovely in return too so its' a great win win!
May our Green and Growing CommuniTree of trees and people be as mighty and strong as an Oak!
Blessings
Amanda
Founder of Ancient and Sacred Trees
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