Yorkshire Water making treerific progress in commitment to plant a million trees

More trees are set to be planted across the region as Yorkshire Water continues its commitment to plant one million trees by 2028.

As the second largest landowner in the county, Yorkshire Water manages over 72,000 hectares of land. More than 250,000 trees have been planted so far, and the company is committed to reaching it’s ambitious target by 2028.

Yorkshire Water has also been working closely with partners such as The National Trust, the Woodland Trust and White Rose Forest to seek out areas where the right trees can be planted in the right place to achieve the target and help deliver national government targets for tree planting.

This winter starting in January, the Forestry Commission has supported a scheme to plant more than 18,000 trees in a new nine-hectare woodland at Underbank Reservoir in Stocksbridge, near Sheffield.

During this time, three fields between the Oaks and Brooks bank bridge will become home to the 18,600 trees, with 60 per cent of them being native broadleaf trees including oak, birch, aspens, cherry, hawthorn, and holly trees.

Hazel Earnshaw, lead countryside and woodland advisor said: “We’re very excited to begin planting these trees, it’s been long awaited, and we can’t wait to get stuck in.

“We’re very keen to keep using nature-based carbon reduction solutions and planting trees not only helps offset carbon use, but it also helps biodiversity, water quality and provides natural flood management benefits to local communities.

“Tree planting is the right thing to do for the environment and helps Yorkshire thrive. Through our well-considered designs, the planting schemes are also providing new recreation opportunities and protecting wildlife.  We’ll be organising community planting days so that people can come along and help us plant.

“We’re working and negotiating with a lot of our partners to see where else we can plant trees, and keep pushing towards hitting our target of planting a million trees by 2028.”

Crispin Thorn, Forestry Commission area director for Yorkshire and North East said: “Trees and woodlands provide a wide range of benefits for people, nature and the economy as well as playing a key part in our response to the challenges associated with climate change.

“Yorkshire Water’s ambition for tree planting is to be commended and it’s fantastic to be able to support its delivery through our flagship England Woodland Creation Offer grant.”