‘to acquire and care for threatened woods for the public to enjoy, and to plant trees.’
1973: Avon Woods, a threatened ancient woodland in Devon is purchased, saving it from almost certain clear-felling and replanting with conifers.
1977: After five years, the Trust owns 22 woods covering 189 hectares (467 acres) in six counties. John James is appointed as development officer, the Trust’s first full-time employee.
1982: After 10 years, the Trust now owns 80 woods, covering 1,012 hectares (2,500 acres) in 23 counties, and has 20,000 members.
1990: Staff numbers now reach 50 people.
1993: The Trust now cares for 609 woods, covering 8,421 hectares (20,800 acres) in nearly every county in Britain. One hundred personnel means the Trust is getting bigger and bigger.
1995: The Millennium Commission awards our ‘Woods on your Doorstep’ project £6.5 million. (The scheme was successfully completed with the creation of 200 new community woods in England and Wales.)
1997: John James, the Trust’s first chief executive, retires after 20 years service. Mike Townsend, the Trust’s second chief executive is appointed.
1998: There are now 150 people employed by the Trust.
2000: A new partnership with the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), building on their phenology project begins. (Phenology is the study of the timing of natural events, such as the arrival and departure of migrant birds, leaf tint and bud burst.)
2000: All the Trust’s woods now achieve FSC certification for woodland management, the first major landowner to secure this in the UK.
2001: The Trust now has 200 employees.
2002: The Trust now cares for more than 1,000 sites, covering more than 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres).
2004: Tree For All, the Trust’s most ambitious campaign to date is launched - the vision being that every child should have the chance to plant trees. So far, almost two million children have planted eight million trees.
2007: The Trust launches the Ancient Tree Hunt, which aims to record 100,000 ancient trees over the next 12 years. We're nearly half way to our target having recorded nearly 42,000 trees so far.
Present day: For the latest milestones here at the Woodland Trust take a look at our Annual Review page.