Foreword
The Seeds of Time and Place Project of The ESSO Living Tree Campaign
This publication is the result of a new major initiative in Northern Ireland called Seeds of Time and Place and is funded as part of the UK Esso Living Tree Campaign. The initiative’s aim is the conservation and expansion of Northern Ireland’s tree heritage, concentrating especially on trees of local significance and value. The whole focus of the project is to create opportunities for individuals, organisations and communities to get directly involved in conserving and growing more of these trees. The initiative has two integrated central themes.
1. Trees of Local Ecological Importance.
The project recognises and responds to the ecological importance of local origin native trees by encouraging their appropriate planting throughout NI. These trees are an important part of our natural resources and conserving them will help sustain biodiversity.
2. Trees of Local Cultural Importance.
The project recognises and responds to the cultural value placed on trees by communities and individuals. These trees need not be of local ecological importance but do contribute to a strong and distinctive sense of place. This distinctiveness and local variation amongst our trees need to be conserved for the cultural and ecological benefit that they provide.
The initiative recognises the profusion of the natural world itself. Our trees annually provide seeds. If we can recognise and utilise this abundant natural resource we have within our grasp the natural way to conserve our tree heritage. The project encourages the identification, collection, treatment and sowing of these seeds, nurturing them into small trees and then planting them out into the urban and rural landscapes of Northern Ireland.
It was recognised that a practical guide was needed to equip people with the necessary and relevant information needed to fulfil the project’s vision.
There was a need to gather together in one publication the necessary technical expertise to grow trees from seed successfully and to make it easily accessible for anyone with an interest in the project. Because that is the central belief of the initiative that it will take the efforts of many local people to ensure the protection and conservation of our tree heritage.
It will need more than the efforts of tree professionals. It needs the support of anyone with a desire to conserve our trees. And this guide equips people with everything they need to know to grow NI trees from seed. Growing trees from seed is a vast subject so it was decided to concentrate, in the first place, on producing a guide that would provide information on how to grow from seed or trees of local ecological importance i.e. NI’s indigenous trees.
We hope you will join us in this important initiative and that this guide provides you with the information you
need to help you participate in helping to conserve and expand NI’s tree heritage.
John McClean
Regional Director Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland
and Chairperson of the Seeds of Time and Place Steering Group (at publication)