Volunteers roll up sleeves to help National Park during Tree Week
December 6, 2023
During National Tree Week, last week (28 November) American Express colleagues from the company’s Brighton and Burgess Hill offices (pictured) rolled up their sleeves to help with hedge laying and coppicing in the South Downs National Park.
On the edge of Kingston near Lewes, the American Express volunteers were given demonstrations and instructions on traditional tree management techniques by the Park’s rangers.
Cutting or laying deciduous trees benefits biodiversity by encouraging vigorous new growth of shoots, allowing more light to reach the ground, so wildflowers can grow, and creating warm habitats for basking invertebrates such as butterflies and dragon flies.
The laid hedges will also create a stock proof boundary, demarking the edge of a well-used bridleway and the adjacent species rich meadow, allowing wildflowers in the field behind to flourish.
This work is part of the American Express Foundation’s grant to National Parks UK that has supported plantation of 5,000 trees at the South Downs National Park.
