Notes from an interview of Dr. John Grimshaw, director of the Yorkshire Arboretum, on tree planting, climate pledges, and conservation, published in House & Garden September 2023.
On the issues with big-number charity tree-planting with no thought for where and how the trees are planted:
Just blindly planting thousands of trees to hit targets can end in disaster, as was shown by a scheme next to the A14 in Cambridgeshire, where 860,000 trees were planted, three-quarters of which died within a year of being put in the ground because of a lack of aftercare.
On the concerns of planting trees today that will die tomorrow, as the climate shifts:
People are being encouraged to plant native trees, but many of these are no longer thriving in our climate. We need to be looking ahead 40 or 50 years and thinking about what the climate will be like then... Choose native species that are growing successfully further south.
The many benefits of tree planting:
A good, healthy tree canopy helps the climate by moderating temperatures, reducing pollution, mitigating flooding and providing habitats for wildlife.
