Posted by National Tree Officers Conference Tree Establishment Opinion Survey
Supported by a Fund4Trees bursary, a micro-survey of Tree Officers was carried out at the National Tree Officers Conference (Telford, November 2022). The survey aimed to form a cursory impression of existing post-planting maintenance programmes and the perceived sufficiency of revenue funding available for such programmes. Twenty Tree Officers completed the survey that was a ‘taster’ to aid the development of a larger forthcoming Fund4Trees research project.
Summarised Conclusions
Post-planting maintenance (PPM): The results were encouraging (80% of trees receive PPM) within their respective local authorities, but this response should not be interpreted as a representation of the whole country as a different sampling methodology would be needed to accurately represent that. Additionally, there was a possibility that the local authorities (LAs) that could send Tree Officers to this national conference (and furthermore, who have dedicated Tree Officers at all) may be better resourced LAs.
PPM across the UK: This showed a high level of agreement among surveyed Tree Officers in that “A lack of revenue funding to ensure PPM is an issue impacting successful tree establishment”.
Comparative arboricultural research: 75% of Tree Officers surveyed agree that “urban planting mortality rates’ is an important subject for further investigations. 70% of Tree officers agree that urban tree establishment generally is an important topic for future research and 65% agree that research into the availability of revenue funding is important.
The full report with further discussion of the results and possible future avenues of research is below.
The researcher* would like to extend gratitude to all those who made undertaking this micro-survey possible; to Fund4Trees for the bursary, the National Tree Officers Association Conference for allowing us to survey at the conference and to the Institute of Chartered Foresters for assistance following up responses. Final and important thanks must also go to Dr. Mark Johnston for his ongoing guidance, including suggesting not to over interpret these initial survey results but use them to develop further robust research in this area, which is certainly needed.
* Daisy Brasington: Crown Tree Consultancy
Fund4Trees 