Children from Marsden and Slaithwaite schools were among those who have helped to plant trees on Marsden Moor in the past month.

The youngsters have helped create new woodlands that will eventually blanket the slopes of Pule Hill and fill the moor’s steep sided valleys.

In December, the children came in small groups, bundled up in layers of warm winter gear, to help rangers from the National Trust and Yorkshire Water to plant two-year-old ‘whips’ or saplings.

They learned how to position them on the less windy side of pre-positioned stakes and how to ‘heel them in’ with their wellies so they survive the harsh winters out on the moor.

The trees are part of Landscapes for Water, the Trust’s major partnership programme with Yorkshire Water, which aims to plant new native woodlands on the Pennine uplands to support nature recovery.

When grown, these trees will reduce flood risk to downstream communities as well as supporting wildlife and storing carbon.

 

 

As well as learning how to plant trees, the children were taught they are so important to the environment. After getting to grips with the spades and using rubber mallets to hammer in stakes, they declared it the “best school trip ever!”

National Trust’s senior volunteer and community officer for West Yorkshire, Emily Ghassempour, said: “Introducing young children to the concepts of moorland conservation is vitally important ‒ after all, they will be the adults of the future.

“It’s so important that they understand why we must look after the landscape in Marsden, for them and for all of us.”

 

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