Black Country Urban Forest
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The Black Country Urban Forest is a partnership of the voluntary sector and local government with the aim of making urban forestry the characteristic landscape of one of the UK's most deprived industrial areas.
This patchwork of hundreds of small woodlands and individual trees in streets, parks and gardens across the West Midlands, is the UK's most ambitious example of urban forestry. The Urban Forest is home to a wide variety of wildlife and is turning a major industrial area green. In a positive contribution to sustainable development, thousands of new trees have been planted, hundreds of young woodlands are taking root and much-loved existing woodlands are being cared for, making a real contribution to the regeneration of the region's environment, to the economy and to the community.
It is not a forest in the modern sense of a large area of managed woodland. It is closer to the old concept of a Royal forest - a large area of land with many different land uses and activities, except that instead of being dedicated to the enjoyment of the priveleged few, the BCUF is an amenity for all the people, from all backgrounds, that live in it.
The BCUF resulted from a major initiative - the Millennium Forest - was a huge programme of urban tree planting and the management of urban woodlands, creating a tremendous increase in the area of woodland in the area. The most ambitious urban forestry project ever undertaken in the UK.
The Black Country (the part of the West Midlands conurbation consisting of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton, but excluding Birmingham) was the 'forge' of the Industrial Revolution, and the legacy of this was huge areas of derelict land. Even at the turn of the 19th/20th Centuries the 'Midlands Afforestation Society' was creating new woodlands on former coliery tips and other suitable sites across the area. At the end of the 20th Century ambitious targets were set and huge increases inplanting proposed.
The successful project 'Treeways', focused on transport corridors in the area, and acted as a pilot. The four voluntary sectyor principals in this project - NUFU (National Urban Forestry Unit), The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country, BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) and Groundwork Black Country. They went on to work closely with the four local authorities Dudley MBC, Walsall MBC, Wolverhampton CC and Sandwell MBC, to propose the ambitious Millennium programme. Despite setbacks, and problems with achieving all the projected outputs the project was essentially successful, and the concept of the BCUF continues. Future developments in the Black Country, such as the proposed Black Country Park, will take the project forward.
As well as tree planting and woodland mangagement, woodland based businesses were supported, events and activities organised to engage local communities and studies were carried out of the area's biodiversity.
The Millennium Forest project was funded by the UK's Millennium Fund, matched by regeneration funding from the UK and Europe, grants from the Forestry Commission and many other sources. the total cost was over £7M.