Planting by numbers

Why tree planting targets are fundamentally flawed and what we can do about it

Keith Sacre and Kenton Rogers, Treeconomics

This is the first in a short series of articles primarily based on conversations we’ve both had over the past few years on a topic which we also discussed with over 100 consultants, tree officers and academics during a series of workshops at the Arb Association’s conference in Loughborough in September.

A developer’s promise – but what does it really mean?

Poorly planted trees, struggling to survive.

It seems that not a month goes by without some lofty proclamation being made in the news or over social media about the numbers of trees being planted in some place or other.

‘We will plant a million trees!’

‘A tree planted for every citizen!’

‘A new tree for every newborn child!’

… These are just some examples we are sure you’ve heard.

Quite often these statements are made with the best will in the world and are to be applauded. However, such targets and aspirations are often launched into the public domain with little or no understanding of whether they can be achieved, and without any thorough examination of the likelihood of success. In fact, success is, more often than not, ill-defined and vague, with tree planting presented as an all-encompassing, virtuous panacea. During discussions at the conference, this view was expressed constantly, as was the view that tree managers are often asked, without consultation, to undertake planting programmes without any acknowledgement that such undertakings might actually require resources to plan, manage and maintain.

Tree officers in one local authority we spoke with had been handed a new and significantly larger tree planting target without any consultation or any increase in budget for planting, let alone for maintenance and aftercare. It was stressed throughout discussions that time and time again we see newly and poorly planted, dead, dying and stressed trees struggling to survive and providing at best nothing other than an eyesore and at worst a liability to the local environment and to wider society.

With upwards of 70% mortality not uncommon, and many street trees requiring replacement within 10 years, it is a fact that we plant too many trees in our towns and cities. We plant by numbers and political expediency rather than in a planned way with long-term targets and goals clearly identified and recorded. The discussion groups all thought it irresponsible to willingly plant trees that we know are going to die due to lack of maintenance, and felt that doing so is a shameful waste of money.

So, what can be done about this, if the views expressed are accurate? For the purposes of this article, we will focus on a couple of themes which recurred over and over again during discussions.

Planning is crucial

The old adage that ‘failing to plan is planning to fail’ never seems more appropriate than here. A planting plan is more than just a route map to guide what to plant, where and how. It can be a really useful reference tool to fall back on (How are we doing?) and an evidence base to push back with – ‘Sorry Mayor, the planting of 10,000 trees this year is not going to happen because: it is not part of the plan; there isn’t enough space; there are none available from the nursery until 2030’ (delete as appropriate). So, when a new planting-by-numbers target is handed down from on high, the plan can demonstrate that there is already a coordinated approach in place, one which is based in reality and considers where there is room to plant, how many trees are needed, where they will come from and how much this will cost year-on-year.

Tree establishment

Another key point that arose during the workshops is one of terminology. We always seem to talk about tree planting rather than tree establishment, thereby missing the greater part of the whole operation. The use of the words ‘tree planting targets’ inherently implies that we can plant the tree and walk away – job done. Added to this is the generally held belief that trees are strong, resilient organisms that can just be left to get on with it, and that everything that happens after planting will occur naturally, without intervention or cost.

The discussion groups all, without fail, agreed that long-term strategic tree planting, underpinned by a coherent strategy, was a valuable way forward. The preparation and use of tree planting strategies, as considered during the workshops, will be the subject of the next article in this series.

The authors would like to thank all those who participated in the workshop discussions.

This article was taken from Issue 199 Winter 2022 of the ARB Magazine, which is available to view free to members by simply logging in to the website and viewing your profile area.