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Heart of England Forest | |
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Type | Forest |
Location | Warwickshire, England |
Nearest city | Bidford on Avon |
Coordinates | 52°09′19″N1°48′50″W / 52.1553°N 1.8139°W |
Area | 28 square kilometres (7,000 acres) [1] |
Created | 2003 |
Designer | Felix Dennis |
Operated by | The Heart of England Forest Ltd. |
Website | heartofenglandforest |
The Heart of England Forest is an English charity [2] for the conservation and restoration of native habitats primarily within the counties of Warwickshire and Worcestershire. It aims to address the loss of ancient woodlands and other habitats in a region historically covered by the Forest of Arden, which has been substantially diminished due to extensive deforestation activities over the centuries.
The charity has planted over two million trees to help restore a variety of native woodland types for biodiversity and ecological resilience. In addition to reforestation, it also works to conserve existing ancient woodland sites and works to restore wetland and grassland habitats. [2]
The Heart of England Forest is based on the vision of Felix Dennis, a local landowner with a desire to reintegrate native woodland into the local landscape of Warwickshire. Dennis wished to establish a contiguous forest that would not only serve as an essential habitat for wildlife but also provide enjoyment and recreation for the public.
Dennis planted the first trees for the forest near his Dorsington home in 1996. In 2003, the initiative gained formal structure as a charity furthering forestation and Dennis's vision, and in 2013 planted its one millionth tree. [3]
Following Felix Dennis's death in 2014, the charity has since expanded the forest to cover more than 7,000 acres (28 km2), with a variety of habitats. These include 4,658 acres (18.85 km2) of newly established forest with over 600 acres (2.4 km2) mature, ancient woodland, preserving a vital part of the region's natural heritage. In 2022, the Heart of England Forest planted its 2 millionth tree.
In addition to forestry work, the charity also plays a role in education, [4] with programs designed to teach children about the importance of forests, biodiversity, and wildlife conservation. [5]
The Heart of England Forest is a home to many species of wildlife. It exemplifies the success of the conservation efforts and the biodiversity of the restored habitats. Species include:
The Heart of England Forest charity planted 120,000 native broadleaf trees from November 2022 to March 2023. Trees are planted by volunteers, [6] with a current goal to reach a forest spanning 30,000 acres (120 km2). [7]
Quercus kelloggii, the California black oak or Kellogg oak, is an oak in the red oak section native to western North America. Although genetically separated from them for more than 20 million years, its leaves are remarkably similar in appearance to several other members of the red oak section including the red oak and the black oak found in eastern and central North America.
Brisbane Water National Park is a national park on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. The national park is situated 70 kilometres (43 mi) north of Sydney and 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) southwest of Gosford. It consists the Brisbane Water and Mooney Mooney Creek waterways.
The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland heritage. It has planted over 50 million trees since 1972.
The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featuring in the Domesday Book.
The Forest of Arden is a former forest and culturally defined area located in the English West Midlands, that in antiquity and into the Early Modern Period included much of Warwickshire, and parts of Shropshire, Staffordshire, the West Midlands, and Worcestershire. It is associated with William Shakespeare as a territory of his youth, and the setting of some of his drama.
Durham Wildlife Trust is a registered charity that was established in 1971, originally as the Durham County Conservation Trust, becoming Durham Wildlife Trust in 1988. The Trust operates across the area of the old County Durham, which includes Darlington, Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland.
In the United Kingdom, ancient woodland is that which has existed continuously since 1600 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The practice of planting woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 1600 is likely to have developed naturally.
An oak savanna is a type of savanna, where oaks are the dominant trees. It is also generally characterized by an understory that is lush with grass and herb related plants. The terms "oakery" or "woodlands" are also used commonly, though the former is more prevalent when referencing the Mediterranean area. Oak savannas typically exist in areas with low precipitation and feature poor soils. Predominant land uses include rangeland agriculture. Naturally, these savannas depend on natural wildfires to maintain their open vegetation.
The Cotswold Water Park is the United Kingdom's largest marl lake system, straddling the Wiltshire–Gloucestershire border, north-west of Cricklade and south of Cirencester. There are 180 lakes, spread over 42 square miles (110 km2).
The California Floristic Province (CFP) is a floristic province with a Mediterranean-type climate located on the Pacific Coast of North America with a distinctive flora similar to other regions with a winter rainfall and summer drought climate like the Mediterranean Basin. This biodiversity hotspot is known for being the home of the Sierran giant sequoia tree and its close relative the coast redwood. In 1996, the Province was designated as a biodiversity hotspot allowing it to join ranks among 33 other areas in the world with many endemic species. To be named a biodiversity hotspot, an area has to contain species and plant life that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The California Floristic Province is home to over 3,000 species of vascular plants, 60% of which are endemic to the province.
Rodney Stoke is a 69.6 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, just north of the village of Rodney Stoke in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, notified in 1957.
The Appalachian–Blue Ridge forests are an ecoregion in the Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests Biome, in the Eastern United States. The ecoregion is located in the central and southern Appalachian Mountains, including the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians and the Blue Ridge Mountains. It covers an area of about 61,500 square miles (159,000 km2) in: northeast Alabama and Georgia, northwest South Carolina, eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and central West Virginia and Pennsylvania; and small extensions into Kentucky, New Jersey, and New York.
California oak woodland is a plant community found throughout the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of California in the United States and northwestern Baja California in Mexico. Oak woodland is widespread at lower elevations in coastal California; in interior valleys of the Coast Ranges, Transverse Ranges and Peninsular Ranges; and in a ring around the California Central Valley grasslands. The dominant trees are oaks, interspersed with other broadleaf and coniferous trees, with an understory of grasses, herbs, geophytes, and California native plants.
The English Lowlands beech forests is a terrestrial ecoregion in the United Kingdom, as defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the European Environment Agency (EEA). It covers 45,600 km2 (17,600 sq mi) of Southern England, approximately as far as the border with Devon and South Wales in the west, into the Severn valley in the north-west, into the East Midlands in the north, and up to the border of Norfolk in the north-east. The WWF code for this ecoregion is PA0421.
The flora of Scotland is an assemblage of native plant species including over 1,600 vascular plants, more than 1,500 lichens and nearly 1,000 bryophytes. The total number of vascular species is low by world standards but lichens and bryophytes are abundant and the latter form a population of global importance. Various populations of rare fern exist, although the impact of 19th-century collectors threatened the existence of several species. The flora is generally typical of the north-west European part of the Palearctic realm and prominent features of the Scottish flora include boreal Caledonian forest, heather moorland and coastal machair. In addition to the native species of vascular plants there are numerous non-native introductions, now believed to make up some 43% of the species in the country.
The San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex is located in the northern San Joaquin Valley, within Merced County and Stanislaus County of California. The complex, with four federal National Wildlife Refuges, is managed by the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service.
The Cosumnes River Preserve is a nature preserve of over 51,000 acres (210 km2) located 20 miles (30 km) south of Sacramento, in the US state of California. The preserve protects a Central Valley remnant that once contained one of the largest expanses of oak tree savanna, riparian oak forest and wetland habitat in North America. Agricultural development has changed the landscape from groves of oaks and tule marshes to productive farmlands.
The San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge is a protected area of along the San Joaquin River in the northern San Joaquin Valley, California. It is within San Joaquin County and Stanislaus County.
Heartwood Forest is a planned forest in Hertfordshire, England. The site covers 347 hectares, the largest continuous new native forest in England.
The biodiversity of Wales is the wide variety of ecosystems, living organisms, and the genetic makeups found in Wales.
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