The Sherwood Seedbank

The Sherwood Seedbank enables Sherwood acorns (and seeds from other tree species) to be collected, sown, germinated and grown into saplings for planting out across the wider Sherwood Forest – by the people who live here. The project will enable two small, but well-established, Nottinghamshire charities to work together to create a ‘circle of life’ tree growing and planting scheme for the benefit of the natural environment of Sherwood and its people.  

There is a national ambition to plant millions of trees each year for the next thirty years to help combat climate change and in Sherwood, we want to do our bit to contribute. The Trust has a key programme of work called PLANT (People Love a New Tree), and integral to this is our aspiration to develop and manage our own community tree nursery to enable us to grow trees from seeds collected within the boundaries of Sherwood Forest and then plant them back. This is hugely important for biodiversity and to preserve the genetic characteristics of the iconic ancient woodland. But it is also better for bio-security – local provenance of tree species and saplings is preferable to sourcing from foreign nurseries, which risk importing unwanted tree pathogens and diseases that can damage and, indeed, destroy English forests and woodlands.  

It’s now time to develop the project to a new stage where we can begin to see (and measure) much greater results – thousands of seedlings raised and planted, more people engaged and a greener more bio-diverse Sherwood protected. The Tree Nursery will be directly managed by the Trust with the support of Feel Good Gardens, who operate the site location at Sherwood Pines.

Please help us to raise a new generation of Sherwood Forest trees and play an important part in the future biodiversity and biosecurity of Sherwood Forest, helping to increase the provenance of new trees in one of our most iconic, but challenged English woodlands.