Woodland tidied up thanks to enthusiastic volunteers

A Dartmoor woodland has been given a tidy-up thanks to a team of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers. 

Working with Dartmoor National Park’s Rangers Ella Briens and Ethan Parsons and Dartmoor Headwaters Project Officer Kerry Smith, the group spent a Sunday morning removing tree guards from a native woodland in the Dean Burn valley near Buckfastleigh.

Seventeen volunteers joined Ella, Ethan and Kerry for the volunteer event on January 9 and the collective hard work was a success because they collected up hundreds of tree-guards – filling five big dumpy bags. It’s hoped the tree-guards can be recycled. 

The group included regular and new faces, voluntary wardens and people from Moor Trees, the independent conservation charity which planted the woodland back in 2007. 

Moor Trees has spent more than 20 years planting native trees on Dartmoor and South Devon, creating new woodlands from seeds collected locally and helping to restore natural eco-systems to the landscape. 

Moor Trees Trustee Tim Ferry said: “We very much enjoyed our day and Moor Trees will continue to take every possible opportunity to work with Dartmoor National Park to achieve our shared vision for a more tree-covered and nature-rich Dartmoor.”

Ella said: “A massive thank you to all of our volunteer helpers! We had a brilliant turn out and got so much achieved and the Landowner is very happy. We still have more guards to take down and people have kindly offered to come back again. It is great to see the tree's 'freed' from the guards and continue to mature into a fabulous piece of woodland.”

Following the morning’s work, Kerry took them on a guided walk to see the positive work achieved in the area through the Dartmoor Headwaters project. 

Dartmoor Headwaters uses natural flood management techniques, less intrusive than the traditional more engineered approach to reducing flood risk.

Measures include installing dams made of willow and timber, rewetting meadows, lane drainage improvements, tree planting, and reconnecting rivers to their flood plains to hold water. Not only are they effective in reducing flood risk to lower-lying communities but they also improve the environment and biodiversity by creating natural habitats for wildlife, increase carbon capture and storage, and improves water quality. 

Kerry said: “It was great to work with such enthusiastic volunteers on a woodland project that demonstrates natural flood management in action on the slopes above the river. I was also pleased to be able to show them some of the other work done nearby during the Dartmoor Headwaters pilot project, with plenty of recent rainfall to demonstrate their benefit!”

The Dartmoor Headwaters project is a partnership between Dartmoor National Park Authority and the Environment Agency working alongside landowners and commoners in river catchments Dartmoor-wide.