The Tree Council

National Tree Week saw the launch of a new Tree Warden network as part of a special volunteering initiative, Londoners Love Trees.  

The network – in Ealing – is the first of five that The Tree Council, working with the London Tree Officers Association (LTOA) and tree officers in individual boroughs, is developing across the capital as part of Londoners Love Trees.

This new initiative, funded by London Mayor Boris Johnson's Team London volunteering programme (www.london.gov.uk/teamlondon), aims to get 4,000 Londoners involved in growing, planting, surveying and caring for urban trees.

“I want to bring the best of the 'village' into the city,” said Boris Johnson. “Encouraging more trees and more people to plant and care for them is one way I am doing this.”

In October the LTOA, working with The Tree Council, organised a seminar to look at how Tree Wardens could play a greater role in the capital – in new and existing networks – and invited representatives of the thriving networks in South Norfolk, South Walsall and the London Borough of Merton to explain their success.

“We are aiming to involve as many volunteers as possible in looking after the capital’s biggest environmental asset – its trees,” said Tree Council director-general Pauline Buchanan Black.

As part of Londoners Love Trees, The Tree Council launched an experimental online swap shop for young trees – the London Tree Exchange – at the start of Seed Gathering Season.

The idea is that anyone in London who has free young trees to offer can log details on The Tree Council website. Similarly, anyone looking for trees to plant, perhaps even of a particular type that is especially suitable for the planting site they have in mind, can go to the London Tree Exchange to find out what is available.

• Find out more about the London Tree Exchange at www.treecouncil.org.uk/tree-wardens/londoners-love-trees/tree-exchange.

• Register for the Londoners Love Trees programme at www.treecouncil.org.uk/tree-wardens/londoners-love-trees