Contents
- Orchard Network Event
- Camborne Trees for Streets Project
- Back Garden Forest Free Tree Giveaways
- Winners at the Cornwall Sustainability Awards 2024
- Orchard Management Workshops
- One Million Trees
- Trees for Streets in Camborne
- National Hedgerow Week 2024
- Spotlight on agroforestry
- Community Tree Nurseries
- Latest community projects
- Our newsletters
Have a look at our Spring Newsletter 2025 for the latest news on this winter's planting projects, free tree giveaways and upcoming events and workshops
You can now watch all of our videos on our YouTube Playlist. Find out more about the projects we have helped to get trees in the ground and how we can support you.
Event: The Orchard Network
The Orchard Network is holding their annual meeting on Saturday 3rd May (10am-2pm) at the Peter Lanyon Room, Penryn Campus, University of Exeter. Its a great opportunity to network, ask for advice and share knowledge. There will also be a tour of Tremough Orchard with orchard experts. If you would like more details or to book a place have a look at the Eventbrite page.
Celebration for Camborne's Trees for Streets Project
Eighty residents of Camborne have volunteered to plant a tree in their front garden or to look after a street tree as part of the Trees for Streets project. Trees for Streets is a national project that aims to get more trees in our towns and cities. Forest for Cornwall have partnered with the organisation and Camborne Town Council to run a pilot project in Camborne where there are very few street trees. Our project officer Alex Forrester organised a celebration evening to hand out the trees and useful advice on planting and establishing them well. We were also joined by Cllr. Martyn Alvey and members of Camborne Town Council who shared the important work that is going on across Cornwall and in the town.
Back Garden Forest Free Tree Giveaways
Four Fantastic Winners at the Cornwall Sustainability Awards 2024
To date, Forest for Cornwall has planted two trees for every resident in Cornwall. A remarkable achievement driven by the hundreds of people who have got involved. These include:
- volunteers
- schools
- farmers
- landholders
- communities
- businesses
We celebrate this with our award category Trees for Nature and Growth (sponsored by Defra). This puts a spotlight on projects that have made the most inspiring contribution to increasing tree numbers in Cornwall. We've had applications from a huge range of projects of all sizes from across the region. As usual the choice was very tough for the judges to make!
The Cornwall Sustainability Awards ceremony was celebrated on Friday 6th December. It was held at the National Maritime Museum.
This years worthy winners are:
- Farmers and Landholders:
- Winner: Philleigh Way Wood
- Highly commended: Rosuick Farm
- Community & Urban:
- Winner: Plant One
- Highly commended: Women's Institute Climate Ambassadors
Congratulations from all of us for your incredibly hard work, engagement and innovation. It has made a major contribution to increasing tree canopy across Cornwall. Thank you also to all the brilliant applicants for this awards.
Orchard Management Workshops
Three workshops that will focus on preparing for and managing an orchard project.
- Thursday 9th January (10am-2pm) at the National Trust property Cotehele, near Saltash, home of the Mother Orchard.
- Saturday 18th January (10am-2pm) Gillyflower Orchard, Lostwithiel
- Saturday 15th February (10am-2pm) Duchy Orchard in Truro.
Organised in partnership with Resilient Orchards and the National Trust and funded by DEFRA, these events are free to attend. There are more details about each workshop on the booking page.
National Tree Week 2024 Events
For National Tree Week (23rd November - 1st December) we've celebrated with some fantastic events. These were organised by the Forest for Cornwall team and our partners. National Tree Week (NTW) is an annual event organised by the Tree Council. It highlights the importance of trees and their multiple benefits.
This year we are continuing with our Back Garden Forest tree giveaways. (This is supported by Morgan Sindall). Each resident could collect a free tree from a choice of native species. These include:
- spindle
- rowan
- whitebeam
- hazel
- crab-apple
- dogwood
Following positive public consultation, the first of this year’s Urban Tree Challenge Fund street trees were also planted. These were in Newquay in St. Aubyn Crescent and Whitegate Road.
Your local library also took part with tree themed displays and interactive materials. These were to spark the interest for all ages in the wonderful world of trees. Camelford, St. Austell, Wadebridge, St. Ives and Falmouth libraries also held tree giveaways. Over 15,000 trees were collected by you. Libraries are also being offered the opportunity to plant a Knowledge Tree in their garden.
Twenty Women's Institutes from across Cornwall are planting 45 celebratory trees. These may be at their hall or in the local neighbourhood. These plantings took place during NTW and will commemorate local people or events.
One Million Trees!
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to planting the Forest for Cornwall. This has now reached an incredible milestone of one million trees!
The forest now spans approximately 1,000 hectares, covering:
- woodlands
- parks
- community spaces
- gardens
- farms
This is not only increasing nature for our residents. It is also playing a crucial role in absorbing CO2 emissions to help slow climate change.
This photo shows Stithians Primary School helping us celebrate in their newly planted mini forest.
Trees for Streets Launch at Camborne GreenFest
Forest for Cornwall was at Green Fest to share the news of our new pilot project in Camborne. We are working in partnership with Trees for Streets to increase the number of trees in the town. We will be encouraging everyone to take part by planting a free tree in their garden, or by volunteering to look after the trees on their street. This lovely couple was the first to sign up for a Front Garden Tree. We've selected trees that are suitable for growing in small spaces. They also provide lots of year round interest with blossom, fruit and colourful foliage.
National Hedgerow Week 2024
We celebrated National Hedgerow Week (6th -12th May) by sharing the news of the 8 kilometres of new hedgerow that has been planted this winter. This equals around 40,000 trees.
This video was made by Cornwall Football Golf near St. Austell. Its shows the 2500 hedging trees that they planted in just three days. These hedges will provide wind protection, shelter and perfect conditions for playing. They will also increase biodiversity and help nature recovery.
Other highlights include the 1km of new hedgerow that were planted at Tregerles Farm near Newquay.
Residents of Downderry also got together at Downderry Community Field. There they planted trees to provide boundaries and shelter.
Spotlight on agroforestry
This winter has seen the planting of over 50 hectares of agroforestry projects. These combine tree planting with current farming production. It can be combined with both crops and livestock. It brings many benefits including:
- shade
- shelter
- soil enhancement
- alternative crops
- flood prevention
At the end of March the team held a very popular agroforestry workshop at Rosuick Farm on the Lizard. This is the site for one of the agroforestry pilot projects which is being funded by Defra's Nature for Climate Fund. Many local farmers and producers joined us for the day. It included informative talks from:
- local agroforestry practitioners
- the national leads in agroforestry from the Forestry Commission and Environment Agency
Find out more about the brilliant work of the Community Tree Nurseries
We've captured some of the work of the community tree nurseries that are being supported with the help of the Woodland Trust Emergency Tree Fund. These nurseries are growing trees from locally collected seed with the help of volunteers and community groups. Have a look at these videos to learn more about the work at Bolghen Community Tree Nursery and Kehelland Trust.
Latest Community Projects
Forest for Cornwall has been supporting local communities to plant trees in a variety of different ways. This has been done through the Woodland Trust funded 'Forest for My Place' project. These two new case study videos show the great work that has been happening: