Four UK trees need your votes in European Tree of the Year contest
An Estonian banknote, the Emperor Charlemagne and the Suffragette Movement; all have links to the finalists in the 2016 European Tree of the Year contest. People across the country are being urged to vote, which runs throughout February, with trees nominated from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland alongside 11 others from the European mainland.
Run by the Environmental Partnership Association, the voting mechanism is straightforward – the tree with the most public votes at the end of February will win.
UK hopes lie with the Cubbington Pear Tree in Warwickshire, threatened by the proposed HS2 route*, Peace Tree in Belfast, Suffragette Oak in Glasgow and ‘Survival at the Cutting Edge’, an oak tree in the National Botanic Garden of Wales. All were chosen in a public vote carried out by the Woodland Trust last autumn, supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
Beccy Speight, Woodland Trust Chief Executive, said: “We’d love to see one of our trees be crowned European Tree of the Year so please take a moment to cast your vote. We also need to emulate the value and reverence placed on old trees elsewhere in Europe to ensure ours have similar levels of recognition and protection.”
Clara Govier, head of charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, added: “Tree of the Year is a fantastic contest that creates a real connection between people and trees and raises extraordinary trees around them. Hopefully the British public will get behind our home grown entries and help the Woodland Trust do well in the European competition.”
Alongside the four UK entries, other nominations from elsewhere in Europe include Canicosa’s Pine-Oak in Spain, which has seen a Scots pine grow inside the trunk of a Pyrenean Oak, the Oak of Bolko in Poland which has associations with the origins of the Polish State and the Tamme-Lauri Oak, said to be the oldest tree in Estonia.
The UK has one the highest concentrations of old trees in Europe, yet many have little legal protection. The Woodland Trust, which has recorded over 130,000 trees on its ancient tree inventory, is calling for our oldest trees to be better recognised and protected. The charity’s V.I.Trees campaign, which seeks to create a register for Trees of National Special Interest across the UK, has received support from over 13,000 people to date.
To place your vote and help crown the European Tree of the Year visit www.treeoftheyear.org during February.
