Over the last few months Medway Council has been working on its new Tree and Woodland Strategy. Our Friend’s Groups have played a major part in this by carrying out a survey of the tree canopy for the whole of Medway.

The final report will be available soon and it will give us a clear plan for how we should be caring for our existing woodland and creating more for the future.

The Medway Forest is a mosaic of woodland habitats that are found in both our urban and rural areas. It includes areas of scrubland and woodland, but also the links between them and the rich variety of wildlife that lives there.

The Tree and Woodland Strategy highlights the need to plant more trees, where they should go and how we care for them.

Trees bring huge ecosystem benefits to our community and our planet:

  • Cleaner air
  • Increasing biodiversity
  • Carbon capture from the atmosphere
  • Helping to control flooding

In 2020 the Council secured funding from the Forestry Commission to plant over 10,000 across Medway. It was hoped that our Friend’s Groups would help plant these trees, but the COVID crisis put paid to this. Nevertheless the trees will be going in the ground over the next few weeks, thanks to the support of Norse, and many of our urban greenspaces will see new small community woodland growing up.

Over the coming years these woods will need plenty of care and attention. It would also be fantastic to start recording the growth of the woods by spotting the arrival of new species of birds and invertebrates.

If your Friends group wants to be a part of this project then please contact the Forum.