Tree Wardens Celebrate 20 years

Tree Wardens Celebrate 20 Years of Helping to Green Communities
Tr_CnclTWSgr-whThe Tree Council and its volunteer tree champions are celebrating 20 years of the national Tree Warden Scheme this autumn.
The Tree Council's Tree Warden Scheme was launched on 19 September 1990 and is now a UK-wide force of local volunteers who act as the "eyes and ears" for trees in their communities - both rural and, increasingly, urban.
"Tree Wardens have proved to be a very cost-effective way of helping to make a community more livable by planting and looking after its trees - whether in town or country," said Tree Council Director-General Pauline Buchanan Black.
"Tree Wardening is the embodiment of the Government's ‘Big Society' plans to engage more people in becoming ‘community organisers' and to offer them training. As Tree Wardens already fit the bill, they are a thriving example of what the Coalition Government wishes to see on a wider scale, particularly as the Tree Warden Scheme is stronger than ever before in urban areas - in communities which particularly need trees and the benefits they bring."
When The Tree Council launched its national Tree Warden Scheme on 19 September 1990 there were eight local Tree Warden networks in place. Today there are 8,000 volunteer tree champions in 150 local networks in England, Wales and Scotland.
On 19 September 2010 - 20 years to the day after the launch - Tree Wardens celebrated the anniversary at a regional forum. It was hosted by Mid Suffolk District Council, which set up one of the eight original Tree Warden networks.
The forum is one of many regional events taking place across the UK to mark the 20th anniversary. At each, volunteer Tree Wardens from different local networks are gathering to hear from tree experts, share project ideas and discuss the important contributions that Tree Wardens can make to their communities over the next two decades.
For many years the Scheme was strongest in rural areas, with Tree Wardens often linked with parishes. However, backing from Community and Local Government's Special Grants Programme helped The Tree Council to devote particular attention to extending Tree Wardening further into towns and cities where the community infrastructure is more complex, communities have less connection to the natural environment and the population is more transitory.
Twenty-one new urban networks were developed during the five years of the funding and the programme has also helped existing networks extend Tree Wardening into their urban areas.
Key to this success has been developing local partnerships with voluntary sector organisations and local council departments with an interest in trees and the environment. These local partnerships can then support the development of a Tree Warden network.