Tree Council visit island to take a look at tree cover
GUERNSEY needs to be thinking now about what trees to plant in the future, according to a representative of The Tree Council, which was in the island to see how tree cover had changed in recent years and what might be learned from any changes.
Director of tree science and research Jon Stokes had visited several times before and said Guernsey was a good guide for what might be impacting the UK in the years to come.
‘The island is a good bellwether on what’s going on in climate change and diseases,’ he said.
While some time ago Guernsey’s elms fell victim to Dutch elm disease, now it appeared that ash dieback was starting to have a similar impact, and for that reason it was important to consider what might be planted in future.
‘And also what might be planted with climate change coming in – it’s very different here from the south of England.’
Mr Stokes and other representatives of the charity had funded their visit to the island and were being shown around on electric bicycles by the States principal environment services officer Andy McCutcheon, who said that the visit also ‘exercised the minds’ of those involved in nature in the island, and how Guernsey needed to act to ensure resilience of its tree line.
There was also the issue of whether or not native or non-native trees might be suitable to plant, said Mr Stokes, and there were arguments for and against.
‘Guernsey is at the forefront of some of those conversations and therefore we are learning from you and hopefully giving something back from that conversation,’ he said.
The group was planning to visit up to 12 sites during its visit and was also going to be speaking to local environmental groups.
