On November 6th 1217, Henry III issued his Charter of the Forest. A companion document to Magna Carta, it indicates how important forests were in this heavily-wooded land (though in this context, ‘forest’ could also mean fields and other land which did not contain buildings). The Charter relaxed the laws around forests, opening them up to the people, permitting access to land which previously had required royal permissions, and removing the death penalty for poaching. Today, we have ‘right to roam’ and take the countryside for granted, but as you no doubt know, much ancient woodland is under threat – from development, from pests, and from poor management. Consequently, 800 years later, the Charter for Trees, Woods and People, led by the Woodland Trust and supported by over 50 other organisations is being created, but this Charter is from the ground up; rather than an edict from above, the Tree Charter is asking everyone who cares about trees to contribute. They would like to know what trees mean to you: this can be a sentence or two (or more), a photograph or video, which captures why trees are important, or a memory you have of trees, or your favourite tree. Or you could think about what you do in the woods – walk, play, build dens, walk dogs, gather berries and nuts? As a social media ‘champion’ for the Tree Charter, I’m collecting tree stories, so please, have a look at the Tree Charter website, and contribute; you can comment on this post, contact me, or find me on twitter or instagram (using the hashtag #treecharter).

The Charter will be a public document which will lay out the ways and reasons why people care about trees, and will be used to inform policy, setting out principals for protecting our trees and our responsibilities towards them. These will be revisited annually by organisations in order to keep the welfare of Britain’s trees in mind and to provide a benchmark to adhere to. After all, trees are significant in so many ways: they provide oxygen, they limit carbon dioxide (thus helping climate change), and they provide habitat for wildlife, to name a few practical things. They can also feed us, provide material for crafts, building, fires, paper, etc; and they have other, perhaps deeper significance, too – they show us the changing seasons, and their beauty touches everyone. They have enormous cultural meaning, and there are many ancient myths about trees, folk songs, and poems. In many ways humans identify with trees: when we talk about the cycle of life it is often using tree metaphors, and poets in particular draw on this (see, for example, W B Yeats’s ‘The Two Trees‘, in which love is expressed by way of trees).

It’s one year to go until the launch of the new Charter for Trees, Woods and People! More than 50 organisations, led by the Woodland Trust, are calling for people to speak out about how trees enhance their lives to make the true value of trees to society visible. These ‘tree stories’ will define the new charter, and will become part of an archive that shows the value of trees to people in the UK. Add your voice at https://treecharter.uk/add-your-voice/

We need trees; at the moment, they need us too. Please help!