To all our lovely volunteers,
After much thought, I’ve made the decision that we have to say that tree planting is no longer open to volunteers. It grieves me to say this, but to encourage you to come and join us now is clearly against the instructions to avoid all unnecessary movements. Although we at Treesponsibility think that tree planting is an essential activity, it is not classified as such in the current circumstances of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Thank you for all your hard work and dedication.
Best wishes, keep safe, and see you again when the situation improves.
Christina
Dongria Khond has suspended her hunger strike.
Natural England pinned down to a timeline:
Natural England will be:
Conducting a site visit to the moor in the week commencing 24th February.
Analysing the evidence in the week commencing second of March.
Treesponsibility will be meeting with natural England the following week.
Hunger Strike outside Natural England’s Leeds Office
Following the devastating flooding in Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd during Storm Ciara, Dongria Kondh, co-ordinator of Treesponsibility, will be going on hunger strike outside Natural England’s Leeds office, at Lateral, 8 City Walk, Leeds LS11 9AT, from 8.00 a.m. on Thursday 20 th February. The hunger strike is in protest at Natural England’s failure to investigate seemingly unconsented works and moorland burning on a big grouse shooting estate above Hebden Bridge.
Evidence was presented to Natural England back in August 2019 by local groups Ban the Burn and Calderdale Wildlife Group, Despite committing In October 2019 to investigate these examples of apparent mismanagement (in breach of the 2017-42 Walshaw Moor Estate Restoration Plan), Natural England appears to have done nothing.
There is a huge amount of well-founded local concern, informed by reliable hydrology studies, that upland mismanagement in the area is contributing to the severity of flooding in the valley during heavy rainfall events.
Dongria Kondh said:- “Local community groups like Treesponsibility and Slow the Flow Calderdale are doing their best to reduce flood risk, but unless the large landowners are held to account our efforts will be in vain.
“Natural England either can’t or won’t act as a regulator for landscape management in the uplands. That’s an important matter for communities who depend on well-managed catchments to reduce their vulnerability to flooding, and it is also a matter of public accountability – rich landowners are receiving large amounts of taxpayer funding with little or no monitoring. After campaigning for better upland managment in the Hebden Water catchment for nearly eight years, my patience has run out – which is why I decided that a hunger strike was the only remaining course of action.”
Ros Berrington, from the Upper Calderdale Wildlife Network said:- “Immediately after the severe flooding in the Upper Calder Valley due to Storm Ciara, we again wrote to Natural England demanding an update on their investigations. Their reply on 14th February excused their failure to start the investigation on the grounds they were waiting for additional information from us regarding many apparently unconsented vehicle tracks on Walshaw Moor Estate, which we drew to their attention in separate correspondence. However they did not contact us to ask for specific details of tracks that are appearing on the estate and it was the first we’d heard that they were delaying their investigation into our initial complaint until we had sent them this additional information”.
In a separate development PCS, the NE trade union, is balloting its members for strike action.
https://www.pcs.org.uk/news/vote-yes-in-the-pcs-natural-england-ballot to campaign against low wages and chronic underfunding (NE has lost 64% of its budget in the last decade).
Dongria Kondh added:- “My hunger strike is not aimed at individual NE workers, who often struggle with unmanageable workloads, and I definitely agree with the unions statement that “NE needs to be properly funded to meet its environmental protection obligations and to be able to actively participate in Defra’s 25-year plan to improve the environment.” The present situation has to change, and change fast, if our landscapes and local communites are to increase their resilience to accelerating climate change.”
Newsletter available. Click link below
Treesponsibility Newsletter Jan 20
Exciting News: We have a large new site to plant this season 20,000 trees on Ovenden Moor:
Ovenden Moor, Cold Edge Road, Grid reference: SE 047304 It is near Withens Head Farm and Ovenden Moor Wind Farm, which share the nearest post code HX2 7UA
Dates booked all ready
7th and 8th March – our birthday, see below. Wednesdays From 12th February to 18th March inclusive
Sunday 16th February
Saturday 22nd February
Saturday 29th February
Sunday 1st March.
Please let us know you are coming. The morning of the day is fine but in that case you need to contact me by phone not email
We need all the help we can get. If you have a group, perhaps from your place of work or a group of friends you would like to bring out for a day of tree planting, please get in touch.
Contact us using the contact form or
ring 07709 690368
Treesponsibility Birthday
6th to 8th March 2020
Accomodation: Blakedean: https://blakedean.org.uk/
Tree planting site:
Ovenden Moor, Cold Edge Road, Grid reference: SE 047307 Near Withens Edge Wind Farm
£50 (consessions: low waged – £35, unwaged – donation)
2 nights accommodation, great vegan food, cellebration
2 days tree planting
You can join us for the day. There will be a mini bus pick up from Halifax railway station at 10:45 on both days with a return trip at the end of the each afternoon. You can make your own way. There is limited parking at the side of the road near the site. There will be home made vegetable soup with bread and hot drinks.
Please let us know if you are coming and whether you are making your own way, or taking the offered min bus pick up.
email us using the contact form or ring 07709 690368
GAPS
4th/5th April
You can join us for the day. Details to follow
Treesponsibility Newsletter Autumn 19
The Autum 2019 newsletter is now available. Click on the link above to download.
2019 Report from the Source Partnership, click the link below to download
http://www.treesponsibility.com/source-report-2019
21st Birthday Newsletter click link to download http://www.treesponsibility.com/21st-birthday-newsletter/
Our 21st Birthday 9th March 2019
Tree planting and fence building at Withens: Windy with sunshine and hail showers
Thanks to Andy Welford for the great photos
Celebration at Height Gate
Tree PLanting Weekends
Photos left to right: Gaps reunion April 2018. Elvira’s 30th birthday celebration April 20 18. Tibet Suport Group York: Breakfast at Height Gate. February 2018
Up and Coming Weekends, Season 18/19
There are still places on the 19th to 21st April weekend
£35 for: Two Nights Accommodation, Great Vegan Food, Two Days Tree Planting, Pick Ups from Railway Stations -from Hebden Bridge on Friday Evening and from Todmorden Saturday & Sunday Morning.
April 19th – 21st 2019 Accommodation at Height Gate http://heightgate.org.uk/
Tree planting site to be confirmed
March 22nd – 24th 2019: Booked for Tibet Support Group York!
Tree planting site Gorpley
April 5th – 7th 2019: Booked for GAPS reunion!
Tree planting site Gorpley
You can join us for the day on any of the weekends, just let us know you are coming
Latest Source Partnership Report Now Available.
Read about all the exciting work we have been doing
amended Source 18-Click to download
Newsletter Spring 2018 – Click to download
Treesponsibility Newsletter Dec 2017
October 2017 Newsletter Click here to download
Newsletter june 2017… Click to download
2017 Source Partnership Report Available Now… Click to download
March 2017 Newsletter Available Now….. Click to download
Burning on the Walshaw Estate at the head of Hebden Water increases river flows in Hebden Bridge.
Hebden Bridge is prone to flooding. There’s no denying it, but there are things we can do to minimise the risk. For some time now it has been thought that the burning of heather for grouse shooting purposes has been contributing to the flooding risk, and there has been campaigning going on locally to try and have this addressed.
In May this year, Treesponsibility commissioned Dr. Nick Odoni (honorary fellow, Department of Geography, Durham University) to undertake a modelling study and investigation into how annual burning on the Walshaw Moor estate may affect high river flows in Hebden Bridge, as well as a further supplementary study into the effects of increasing sphagnum cover.
Click here to see the modelling study, showing the main results, conclusions and recommendations for further work.
Click here to see Supplementary Work and Conclusions, to accompany the Summary Short Study:
Community Action Group builds resilience to flooding in Calder Valley
www.slowtheflow.net/ is now live.
This is the link to the web site of Slow The Flow: Calderdale. This network was set up in 2016 to look scientifically at the issue of why and how the Calder Valley floods and to look at flood prevention measures and solutions to slow the volume of water which comes down the hillsides into the River Calder
TREESPONSIBILITY are a key delivery partner in The SOURCE partnership, which aims to take preventative action to help create a healthy, resilient and biodiverse landscape, for the benefit of all the people in our valley both now, and in future years.
In particular, we aim to:-
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- Minimise flash flooding through appropriately sited tree-planting schemes.
- Treat damaged land and control erosion.
- Monitor invertebrates in the river and carry out habitat improvements.
- Undertake educational activities and encourage volunteering so people of all ages and from all walks of life become aware of the value of our rivers and uplands.
Slowing the Flow Tour at Upper Strines Farm, Colden Clough.
Mike Potter from Pickering Civic Society, Nick Odini, a scientist from Durham University and Local landscape engineer Stuart Bradshaw joined us in March for a tour of potential “slowing the flow” sites. Here we are at Higher Strines Farm, where landowner Matt Taylor showed us the work he has been doing on his land which could be be replicated elsewhere. Matt is part of the Hebden Water and Colden Water Working Group, one of four working groups set up by the SOURCE Partnership to plan slowing the flow measures in different parts of the catchment. Stuart is now part of the Flood Studies Group, and Nick Odini is modelling flow on Walshaw Moor to show the effects of heather burning on the rate of flow from the land into the water courses.
Manchester Quakers Planting.
Volunteers from the Manchester Quakers group have joined us for tree planting every year since the very beginning of Treesponsibility. This year being no exception, they arrived on a bright and sunny Sunday in March this year to help with our planting site at Lodge Farm, up on a steep hillside approximately halfway between Hebden Bridge and Todmorden.
You may have seen this when we first planted on this site in early March and were filmed for BBC Breakfast News.
Treesponsibility staff repairing Landslip at Meadows Edge, Todmorden. (The staff get all the best jobs!)
Hebden Bridge Scouts Planting – 12th March 2016.
We were very pleased that Hebden Bridge Scouts were able to come tree planting at last. The previous date set for them in December brought non stop torrential rain. We didn’t want to put the young people off for life so we agreed to cancel and choose another date. In the meantime the land where they were to plant their trees and where our work team had done the preparation was withdraw by the owner from the tree planting programme. Luckily Kate at Lodge Farm got in touch right after the boxing day flood to say she could offer a substantial plot of land for tree planting. Lodge Farm is a prime site situated on the Burnt Acres hillside below Stoodley Pike and above the sewage works. The trees here will help slow the flow of run off down to the canal and sewage works.
Scaling Up.
GAPS Residential Planting Weekend
From the 8th to 10th March 2016 the GAPS group came to plant at Higher House Barn, a property near Turley Holes in Crag Vale.
GAPS, or the Gardening and Permaculture Society from Manchester University, first joined us in February 2008 Now they are dispersed around the country they come back every year for a tree planting weekend and a reunion. Not everyone makes it each year but they always bring a new friend. Local volunteers Bill and Colin joined us for the day sunday and over the weekend 1,000 trees were planted.
Residential weekend with the Woodcraft Folk District Fellows
Season 2014/15 finished with a busy April. We had three residential weekends on the trot. We were very happy to welcome GAPS for what we think must be their seventh or eighth year. When they had their first residential tree planting weekend they were all part of the Gardening and Permaculture Society at Manchester University. Now they are dispersed over the country and sometimes abroad. Sometimes they bring along people they have met, but they are still GAPS. Last season they were the first group to plant on Gorpley on what must have been the wettest day of the year. This year the weather was kind to them as you can see from the photos taken on the Sunday when we planted 100metres of hedge and a small woodland of 300 trees on a rough bit of hillside near Sowerby Bridge.
We also hosted a group of young people from the Woodcraft Folk. On the Saturday of their weekend we were joined by fifteen young men from Muslims for Humanity. Altogether, six hundred and sixty trees were planted at Rambles, Blackshaw Royd.
Our final weekend of the season was a birthday celebration. We planted 560 trees at Shore Green above Cornholme on a rather wet Saturday. The group included several young children and we were very lucky that landowners Caroline and Marcus welcomed us in to their cosy kitchen to dry off from time to time.
If you would like to bring a group of people together for a tree planting weekend just get in touch via our contact form.
Pictures from New Year tree planting weekend
A fantastic weekend was had by all. 40 volunteers joined us altogether and we planted 1,200 trees. Saturday morning brought rain and sleet but the volunteers were not deterred. Sunday opened sunny and frosty. The ground was too hard for planting at first but the sun soon warmed the earth through. A big, Thank You to Emily for the photos.
Newsletter Available Now
The latest newsletter is available for you to download for free. To get your copy click here…..
Midgledon Wood 12 Years On…
To see how one of our earliest large scale plantings is getting on nowadays click here
Treesponsibility aims to help educate people about the need for action on climate change, and to involve local communities in tree-planting projects to improve our local environment and biodiversity for the benefit of local people and future generations.
Available Now… The SOURCE Report 2014… Click here to download your copy.
Thieves Target Flood Prevention Project.
Thieves have stolen over 1000 young trees from Gorpley Clough, our planting site above Todmorden which was in the process of being planted by volunteers to help reduce the impact of flooding locally. Staff arrived at the site on Thursday 27th February to find …..READ MORE
Latest -The Scientists Views on Peat Bog Restoration
We’re not just interested in trees you know. In recent years a great deal of research has been carried out on the value of peat bogs, and of particular interest at the moment is their ability to help reduce the risk of flooding. Click here to read about how South West Water and its partners are restoring the peat bogs of Exmoor, and see just what a difference this amazing but undervalued resource can make. Read more…..
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By taking a RIVER BASIN approach, such problems can be understood within their wider context. A recently published booklet ‘UNDERSTANDING THE HEBDEN WATER CATCHMENT’ explains how a river basin approach offers the best way of appreciating how all of the various management issues are interwoven. Please download a copy of the booklet by clicking the image on the right.
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In particular, we aim to:- PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO THE LEFT FOR REPORTS FROM 2012, 2013 , AND NOW 2014 SOURCE ACTIVITIES! If you own land in the area between Cornholme and Walsden, please get in touch. We are particularly interested in steep or eroding hillsides, derelict land, or moorlands in poor condition, so that we can assess them for restoration work. There will be no cost to you.
Can You Help?
We are also looking for volunteers to help with the survey work. If you have expertise in this area, so much the better, but full training will be given.
We want schools to get involved too!
We intend to develop educational school trips to the watershed area, so that the children can gain awareness of the importance of our upland catchment. The children will be actively involved in the project, by helping us to monitor progress.
Our projects are already well underway (please see the Annual SOURCE Reports from 2012 and 2013, by clicking the images on the left of the screen). We have been installing pilot erosion control works and are beginning to undertake detailed survey work across the Calder catchment. This groundwork, coupled with advice from friendly experts and site surveys by the Upper Calder Valley Wildlife Group, will enable us to draw up costed action plans for a portfolio of sites, for inclusion in the next White Rose Forest Green Infrastructure Programme. We are also actively fundraising to ensure that delivery of the plans can take place. There are many ways in which local people can help our project forward, and get involved…
