City of Trees, the Community Forest for Greater Manchester, has today launched its updated Forest Plan, All Our Trees – Greater Manchester’s Urban Forest Plan. The Forest Plan is the next iteration of the Greater Manchester Tree and Woodland Strategy, originally launched in 2020.
For the updated plan, a canopy-based target for tree planting has been adopted, setting out how City of Trees will work with partners to increase Greater Manchester’s tree canopy cover from 15% to 17% over the next ten years within our urban forest area.
Since the launch of All Our Trees, UK-wide canopy cover data has been made available. This will allow us to monitor change into the future and maintain alignment with new UK canopy targets, as well as those of our sister Community Forests.
The Forest Plan responds to the acceleration of both the climate and biodiversity emergencies, dually threatening the resilience of our urban forest. Refreshing the Forest Plan at this point ensures closer alignment and linkages with both the Greater Manchester Local Nature Recovery Strategy and Five-Year Environment Plan, of which City of Trees was a key contributor to, sharing their vision for a more biodiverse and resilient forest canopy and highlighting the collective commitment to an increase in canopy cover. The addition of ‘urban’ to the title, reflects the collective of fragmented woodlands and greenspaces, street trees and orchards that make up Greater Manchester’s urban realm.
Using detailed spatial data, the Forest Plan sets out where the most beneficial areas for tree planting are, as well providing a collective guide for planting and managing Greater Manchester’s trees in the future. The plan puts emphasis on the city-region’s trees being the responsibility of us all, and so gives tangible actions for all citizens, landowners, decision makers and businesses to drive forward the urgent need for an increase in canopy cover.
Data displayed in the plan was collected from more than 6,000 trees across Greater Manchester. City of Trees recruited and coordinated a team of 57 surveyors who visited almost 2,000 sample plot and is thought to be the largest ever i-Tree Eco survey undertaken outside the US.
The evidence gathered by City of Trees provides an unmatched insight into the form and function of our urban forest and provides solid evidence that quantifies some of their numerous benefits. It shows that trees of large stature and large leaf (while not the most numerous) do the heavy lifting in terms of provision of benefits. The data also show us that over the coming decades, we will lose some of our forest canopy to age/disease, and so it is vital that we plant the trees of the future now.
Read the Forest Plan and find out how you can take action today.