We need you to add your voice to ours in order to help ensure woods and trees shape the nature of England.
Hello campaigners! ------------------We want to say a really big Thank You to everyone who took the time to respond to our recent 'Dear Defra' campaign. When the Environment Minister invited our supporters to take part in the consultation around the next Natural Environment White Paper, we wanted to make sure that as many of you could take part as possible and that you could share your own views as well as supporting ours.How did we get on?You added your voice to ours in this important debate, loud and clear. Almost 8,400 of you took the time to back our demand for Government to adopt a target of doubling native woodland cover. 4,839 emails were sent directly to Defra using our online tool and 3,542 of our members went the extra mile to return a postcard with their personal message. Thank you especially to every Trust member who stuck a stamp on their postcard even when we'd used a FREEPOST address, you helped to save us money. To see what happened to your postcards check out our latest short film. Our Chief Executive travelled from sleepy Lincolnshire to the big City to hand your messages into Defra's offices herself and we made sure Defra received all your emails too. This is the first time a review of this kind has been undertaken in 20 years. Your support has helped ensure woods and trees can shape the long-term future of the natural environment, and your views also helped to form our own submission to Defra. There is surely no room for Defra to think that protecting, planting and restoring our trees and woods isn't something worth prioritising for years to come. Thanks again, we couldn't have done this without you.Nikki & JamesHead of Campaining & Head of Government AffairsWhat's next?The next stage of the White Paper includes a review of the future of the public forest estate. You may have heard that one option might be to sell at least half of the forests. We are planning a campaign that is directed at the main decision-makers and anticipate a public consultation soon - sign up to be the first to get more news and to take part: http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/campaigning/Pages/news-updates.aspxPlease also send this link to your family and online friends who will want to get involved. Lets raise a voice for trees and woods that's louder than ever!