Britain’s youngest national park is edging closer towards planting 100,000 trees by its 15th anniversary next year as it begins its “major nature recovery drive” this winter. Some 20,294 trees will be planted alongside a woodland the size of five football pitches at the South Downs National Park across Sussex and Hampshire over the coming months. Among the efforts it is hoped to restore “majestic” English elms to the land destroyed by disease by planting 400 new disease-resistant elm trees, which are key to supporting insect and butterfly species, the park said.
Among the trees planted are disease resistant elms (Image: Sam Moore/PA Wire) So far under the Trees for the Downs initiative nearly 75,000 trees have been added to the landscape, in the park’s bid to plant 100,000 by the middle of the decade. The project began five years ago led by the park’s official charity, the South Downs National Park Trust. National park countryside and policy manager Nick Heasman said: “Trees provide clean air for us to breathe, enrich our soils, provide a vital habitat for wildlife and, crucially, are amazing carbon capturers.
“However, the amazing treescape that makes up almost a quarter of the South Downs National Park and is a vital resource for the entire South East is under unprecedented threat from pests and diseases, as well as climate change. Read more: Restaurant bosses 'struggling' as pier repairs delayed “Increasing the number and diversity of our native trees, .