Securing a future for ancient trees
The first step in protecting ancient trees is to know where they are and to identify any possible threats to them.
Although we do know that the UK has more ancient trees than anywhere else in Europe, we do not know where they all are.
Many ancient trees still stand undiscovered in parks and other places.
With the help of the public, the Woodland Trust wants to find and record the location of over 100,000 ancient trees across the UK by 2010, through its Ancient Tree Hunt project.
When we do know the locations of ancient trees, the land around ancient trees also needs to be managed in a way that is sympathetic to the needs of the ancient tree.
The Woodland Trust has produced a range of guides to help landowners with ancient trees take care of them. See our best practice guidelines below.
It is also necessary to have robust legislation to protect ancient trees from the pressures of development and other threats. Many ancient trees are completely unprotected. The Woodland Trust is currently campaigning to change this.