Yorkshire Dales Millenium Trust – Fifth year of partnership

Tarmac celebrated entering its fifth year of a ten-year partnership with Clapham-based Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT).

To mark the occasion, Tarmac teams took part in the first volunteering event of 2024, with two days of tree planting at Wildshare with Mearbeck, where they planted approximately 1,700

trees. This event was supported by one of YDMT’s new woodland trainees, a role that has been created with Tarmac’s support to address the shortage of young people entering the forestry sector, whilst providing environmental job opportunities for people in the Dales.

Over the last two years, Tarmac’s funding has helped YDMT to:

• Plant 38,717 new native broadleaf trees in the Yorkshire Dales and surrounding areas, creating 22 hectares of habitat for people and wildlife to enjoy
• Create 2,167 metres of hedgerow, increasing this vital habitat for our most vulnerable and precious wildlife
• Recycle 20,700 redundant plastic tree shelters from 17 sites across the Dales and Nidderdale, removing plastic pollution from our woodlands and water courses

Tarmac’s funding has also been used for YDMT’s wider woodland work supporting community growing schemes in the Dales. This includes the ‘Seed to Sapling’ project, which is helping to ensure the right species of trees are planted in the Dales by growing native tree saplings from local provenance seed.

The scheme was launched in the autumn of 2022, when YDMT partnered with several community groups, giving them the tools, skills, and materials to set up their own tree growing schemes. It is helping to strengthen YDMT’s efforts to develop a landscape richer in trees, woods, and hedgerows, with tree cover of varying types and densities planted using locally grown stock from across the national park.

Tarmac’s funding has also been used to support YDMT’s community outreach work, enabling the delivery of projects like the ‘Woodland Wellbeing’ programme, offering opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to connect with nature to improve their mental health and learn new skills. The programme enables young people who are disadvantaged through isolation, poor mental health, or for socio-economic reasons to discover woodlands, connect with nature in a meaningful way, and to do something positive for the environment.

Richard Hore, development officer at the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, said: “Support from companies like Tarmac is vital to the work we do in the Dales. We are incredibly grateful for their funding and volunteer support and everything that they have helped us achieve in support of people and planet in the last year.”

Steven Curtin, senior area operations manager at Tarmac, said: “It has been another great year working with YDMT and we are enormously proud of how the partnership has developed. We are looking forward to continuing to work together, helping to create new woodlands, supporting people to enjoy the Dales, and protecting the national park.”

Tarmac’s continued support will enable YDMT to complete the following project aims as part of its Woodland Strategy for 2023 to 2026, supporting people, landscape, and wildlife for future generations:

• Enable the planting of 100,000 trees and shrubs
• Encourage the management of woodlands by supporting landowners and engaging volunteers in this task
• Develop a network of community tree nurseries to provide local provenance planting stock that is best suited to the area
• Engage a minimum of 300 individuals in woodland activities, including 150 who face disadvantage
• Host three woodland trainees over the next three years
• Support the development of recycling hubs for plastic tree guards across the country
• Continue to trial alternative tree shelters and other approaches to woodland establishment
• Provide a minimum of two central recycling collections per year in the Dales, aiming to send 40,000 guards each year to be recycled