Bristol's Great Avon Wood gets hundreds of volunteers

A record number of volunteers have signed up to help plant a region's largest new wood recorded.

The team at Bristol's Great Avon Wood, near Pensford village in the Chew Valley, were "astonished" to receive 200 applications within 10 days.

Charity director Dave Wood said: "We've had the first handful of planting days fill up almost immediately."

Avon Needs Trees and the Forest of Avon Trust have secured more than 100 acres of land for the project.

Over the next three years, volunteers will help plant and care for 40,000 trees supplied by the Woodland Trust in three linked woodland sites.

Mr Wood said: "People in the Bristol area are clearly eager to be a part of tackling the climate emergency."

Alongside volunteer applications, groups from Black2Nature and local universities have also been getting involved.

West of England Metro Mayor Dan Norris said a £700,000 award from the Green Recovery Fund will "help set the stage" for Great Avon Wood.

He said the "significant funding" would create jobs in the green economy and help improve the health and wellbeing of local communities, offering opportunities to "enjoy nature on their doorstep".

Volunteers will lead a long-term stewardship of the new trees, including an ongoing maintenance and care programme which will be overseen by the charity.

The charity said community involvement would be "integral to the scheme's success", with its officers consulting closely with local residents.

Avon Needs Trees and the Forest of Avon Trust are inviting more people across the region to volunteer to help plant the new woodland.

The wood can be reached by bus from the centre of Bristol and is only a short distance from Whitchurch, where Sustrans' National Cycle Network 3 is largely vehicle-free to central Bristol.

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