With National Tree Week coming up, ELIZABETH EDWARDS turns the spotlight on to South Oxfordshire’s very own warden scheme

Last year South Oxfordshire District Council became the first local authority in the county to have its own tree wardens. The warden scheme has been gradually extending throughout the country since it was introduced by the Tree Council 18 years ago.

Martin Gammie, South Oxfordshire’s forestry and countryside manager, said: “We began about 18 months ago, starting with Watlington and Henley as the pilot areas. We contacted all the local town and parish councils to see which would be interested. We received the best responses from Watlington and Henley.

“These are areas where the district council has a lot of activity in relation to applications for tree works, so it seemed that these were appropriate areas in which to start.

“We had some enthusiastic interest from people coming forward as volunteers and we held a couple of introductory training sessions.”

The aim is to widen the scheme, and four more councils — Cholsey, Thame, Warborough and Whitchurch —are taking part with another 16 councils with volunteers who are able to share in projects and training.

From the initial ten tree wardens, the number has now grown to 54. One of their first projects was taking part in an exercise to search out ‘landmark’ trees.

“We asked the wardens to go out into their local areas and identify trees which seem to be of significance in their landscape but which are not currently protected by legislation,” said Martin Gammie. “From this information we can build up a database, which will be a useful source of reference.”

The tree wardens are not taking over the role of council officers but adding community involvement and the benefit of local knowledge.

Another aspect of this work in the community is tree planting and, as a first stage, identifying suitable sites that could be a public amenity.

The proposals are being considered and may benefit from the free-tree scheme operated once a year by the council, one which replaces its previous tree grants. Orders are placed with a tree nursery for species suitable for each location.

Then the tree wardens make plans for the planting and maintenance. Another focus is to increase interest among the local community in the trees that brighten their locality and maybe involve them in the planting.

In Henley, Dianne Browne, Andrew Hawkins and David Whitehead invited town councillors and local conservation group members to join them on a ‘walkabout’ in the Mill and Marsh Meadows to study the groups of trees there.

The Watlington wardens also ran a guided tour of street trees in their town, called The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and attracted a group of some 20 people.

Of the ‘good’, there are plenty in Watlington, says tree warden Robert Barber, and while there are not any ugly trees as such, there examples of ‘bad’. They may have been planted in the wrong place, or too close together.

After planting they may have been neglected, with ties not removed and cutting into the trunk as it grows A major problem are strimmers, which, if the bark is damaged, can cause major problems for the tree’s health.

Tree wardens have been releasing the trees from their ties and guards and fitting the strong reinforced collars which provide protection from strimmers. They have also been able to prune young trees.

Robert Barber and his fellow tree warden, John Brannan, feel that they have been able to play a useful role in their community by being a link between it and the council’s forestry and countryside team.

Another activity which they ran was a visit to a tree nursery, again with local residents invited. There they saw how young trees are grown and the benefits of using locally-grown trees when new plantings take place.

All the wardens have taken the opportunity of attending training sessions provided by the council on landmark trees and amenity value.

Further afield the wardens have been able to attend national events. Last year there was the annual tree wardens’ forum at Kew Gardens in London and this year a similar event will be taking place at Alton Maltings in Hampshire.

South Oxfordshire hopes to extend the scheme further.

Liz Child, a member of the forestry and countryside team, has been helping to co-ordinate the network. “It is a very enjoyable scheme to organise,” she said.

Anybody who would like to volunteer to become a tree warden should contact the clerk of their own town or parish council, or the district council on 01491 923770 or at www.forestry@southoxon.gov.uk This month sees the 34th National Tree Week run by the Tree Council. Events, which are from November 26 to December 7, involve many of the 8,000 tree wardens around the UK. For details visit the council’s website www.treecouncil.org.uk or call 020 7940 8180.