New grants have become available for Yorkshire Dales farmers and landowners to encourage them to plant broadleaf trees, it was announced today (July 29).

The Dales have one of the lowest percentages of tree cover in the UK thanks to massive clearances in the 18th and 19th centuries to make way for sheep pasture and three local organisations have linked to offer funds for new planting.

They are the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust charity (YDMT), the national park and the Forestry Commission. The latest appeal is part of a long-term woodland restoration programme which has been going on throughout the Dales since 1997.

As Chris Lodge, YDMT Project Officer explains, “The Trust is proud to have been involved in over one hundred tree planting projects so far. We intend to continue this work and increase the native broadleaved tree cover across the Yorkshire Dales.

“In the Yorkshire Dales only 3.5% of the land is covered by trees, compared with the national average of 9% and of this, more than half is conifer plantation.”

Anyone who feels they have land suitable for creating a new woodland and would like more information can contact Chris Lodge on Tel. 015242 51002 email: chris.lodge@ydmt.org or Geoff Garrett, Senior Trees and Woodlands Officer, Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority on Tel. 01756 751600 email: geoff.garrett@yorkshiredales.org