# Illegal or not?



## mort (3 Apr 2017)

I can't find anything online but was asked today by someone when walking the dog if knew, are you allowed to plant native trees in the woods? The trees in question were grown from seeds collected in these woods and I think they just had too many grow and not enough takers for them. 
My guess would be you would need permission from the council (it's public greenspace) but don't want to go through the rigmarole of finding the right department and person, especially as I probably won't bump into them again for a few weeks.

TIA


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## zozo (3 Apr 2017)

I guess it depends on the location you like to plant it. In our country we have a forest managment agency and a natural monument agency. Both have a protective policy ofcourse.. We have plant a tree day, or buy your (girl)friend a tree day etc. But it are specialy appointed places where this is possible. 

I can imagine that things like this excist in all contries with wildlife reservations present.. And a wrong tree planted at the wrong place can be a invironmental invasive threat to what grows around it. Or it likely wont survive either.. These things you have to know..

Well if you hush hush, anything is possible.. I guess if you ask the correct agency also.. just find out what agency to ask..


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## kadoxu (4 Apr 2017)

Guerrilla planting... 
http://www.treehealthcare.co.uk/guerrilla-planting/
https://www.quora.com/Do-I-need-permission-in-order-to-plant-trees-in-public-places


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## roadmaster (4 Apr 2017)

I prefer Johnny Apple seed approach.


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## zozo (4 Apr 2017)

kadoxu said:


> Guerrilla planting...


That was the word i forgot and was looking for.. This is a new hype among hipsters.. Walk around with bags of seeds and throw it all around..  Some forums have topics about it with people showing their creations. 

about 20 years ago i remember one in particular which was hilarious.. Well you all know i'm from the Netherlands and silently the netherlands is world wide famous about their Coffee shops and the special smokeable coffee they sell. But once a coffee shop owner in my town desided to go for a publicity stunt and threw coffee seeds all over town in every little flower shrubbery he could find he threw some. Rather looked hillarious after a few months all those coffee plants popping up everywhere you looked.


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## Andy Thurston (4 Apr 2017)

someone once Guerrilla planted opium Poppy's in a police station grounds in north Yorkshire, it went unnoticed for quite some time but when it did get noticed the police had egg on their faces.


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## zozo (4 Apr 2017)

Andy Thurston said:


> someone once Guerrilla planted opium Poppy's



I wouldn't mind, they have a most beautifull flower.  I have them in the garden about every year. Unfortunately the flower just lives a few days.. You would need quet a lot (hundreds) to get a few gram of opium out of it, in our climate maybe more. And the procedure to get it won't go un noticed.. It's rather a paintstaking job. You need to cut the capsule on a plant with a live sapstream and wait at least a day go back and collect few drops of resin per capsule..

So the fuzz was about nothing.. Even more hillarious..


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## devo (4 Apr 2017)

Planting trees in woods is largely a waste of time, trees are quite capable of growing by themselves (they've been doing it a long time), so if conditions are right they grow by themselves, if conditions aren't right (usually too little light) planted trees won't grow either.


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## PARAGUAY (5 Apr 2017)

Sounds a real positive thing Mort, just go ahead,my expierience with local authorities they throw red tape at you,plus it might remind them of the ambition to concrete everything in sight,green belt is under threat


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## kadoxu (5 Apr 2017)

devo said:


> Planting trees in woods is largely a waste of time, trees are quite capable of growing by themselves (they've been doing it a long time), so if conditions are right they grow by themselves, if conditions aren't right (usually too little light) planted trees won't grow either.


That would be true if there were no parasites, invasive species, human intervention... it's like saying we don't need to protect endangered animal species cause they've been around for so long...


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## mort (5 Apr 2017)

I saw he planted it this morning. It's in a clearing made by someone who kindly set a car on fire. It should help feed the squirrels by next year.

The problem with our local council is they have great intentions but poor execution. There is an area which they want to turn back to heathland. The trouble is when they cleared the site they were too chainsaw happy. Apparently they were working from old pictures from the 80s and restoring it back to this point. It meant they chopped down all the silver birch, the pioneering species in the area, which is fine but also chopped down dozens of extremely old oak trees 60, 70, 80 years plus.
In our area they seem happy to chopped any tree down that they believe is in the way or a "threat" to elf and safety aka in their way, but they don't ever plant any.


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## dan4x4 (6 Apr 2017)

what sort of tree is it? if you know its native I would just go for it. 

Then again would it nt be better planted somewhere that needs it more? like a in a plantation area you see near roads etc? Wear a hi-vis nobody will think anything of it.


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## dan4x4 (6 Apr 2017)

mort said:


> I saw he planted it this morning. It's in a clearing made by someone who kindly set a car on fire. It should help feed the squirrels by next year.
> 
> The problem with our local council is they have great intentions but poor execution. There is an area which they want to turn back to heathland. The trouble is when they cleared the site they were too chainsaw happy. Apparently they were working from old pictures from the 80s and restoring it back to this point. It meant they chopped down all the silver birch, the pioneering species in the area, which is fine but also chopped down dozens of extremely old oak trees 60, 70, 80 years plus.
> In our area they seem happy to chopped any tree down that they believe is in the way or a "threat" to elf and safety aka in their way, but they don't ever plant any.



Cant have too many trees. Like to be honest I'd love to live in a forest ha


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## mort (6 Apr 2017)

Couldn't agree more. I grow ten trees for every member of my family each year because I think there was a fact that it took 7 trees to wipeout the average carbon footprint for a person. I'm not a tree hugger but love trees and growing things so it works out well. Luckily we have a cousin with 120 acres, so finding places to put them isn't hard. This year I grew Rowan, Horse chestnut, Sweet chestnut, Hazel and oak. Next year they will be slightly more exotic.


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## zozo (6 Apr 2017)

mort said:


> I'm not a tree hugger


I am among others after a few beers.. I had a sweatheart not far from my house, huged her every weekend on my waddling home... A huge old Oak so big couldn't get me arms 1/3 around it, must have been centuries old.. I realy cried a little when one day a storm blew it over..  I never forget her.. R.I.P dear old Oaky.. 

As a kid i had a same old Beech in the local forest.. Went there several times a week collecting beech nuts, bags full, baked them in the frying pan at home. It also blew over.. 

Can't help it, i love huging huge trees.. Hoping they could tell what the all witnessed in their awsome long life. Maybe they did, while sitting under them and amigining it.


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## Tim Harrison (6 Apr 2017)

The only objection from a conservation point of view would be if the woodland was officially classed as Ancient Woodland or had some official designation such as SSSI or Local/National Nature Reserve.
The former are known to have been around since before 1600, and may have been part of the primordial forest that spread to cover the country in the wake of the retreating glaciers 10,000 years ago.
The significance of this is their unique genetics, and conservation management aims to retain this wherever possible through natural regeneration.
Since the seed was from the woodland in the first place and supposedly from native stock I guess no harm done. 
And if the woodland isn't designated then no foul either, although the land owner might think differently, council or not. 
However, it is illegal to interfere with designated sites under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. 
You can get further info from Natural England...or whatever it is they call themselves these days.

Marcel, stop hugging trees after beers, you're obviously affecting the roots, they keep blowing over...


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