Woodland Trust - our history

From little acorn to mighty oak - look how we've grown since 1972

1972

Ken Watkins and friends get together at his Devon home to discuss the plight of ancient woods and the Woodland Trust is born.

1973

Ancient Avon Woods in Devon becomes the Woodland Trust’s first wood and is saved from clear-felling and replanting with conifers.

1977

The Trust is now the proud owner of 22 woods covering 189 hectares in six counties.

1978

The Woodland Trust relocates its headquarters to its current home – the market town of Grantham in Lincolnshire and introduces membership.

1980

Coed Lletywalter, 38 hectares of ancient woodland and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in the Snowdonia National Park, becomes the Trust’s first Welsh wood.

1982

We’re 10 years old – and look how we’ve grown! We’re now a UK-wide charity with 20,000 members and 80 woods under our care and protection.

1985

We’ve now inspired 50,000 people to stand up for UK woods, trees and wildlife with us and join the Woodland Trust family as members.

1990

Staff numbers reach 50 people

1992

Trenant Wood, near Looe in Cornwall, becomes our 500th wood.

1993

It’s our 21st birthday and we celebrate by buying our largest ever site, 711-hectare Ledmore and Migdale Woods in the Highlands.

1996

Kenneth Watkins dies after a short illness aged 86. One of his obituaries described him as “a tough, singled-minded decision taker – but full of kindness and compassion”.
That same year, Glen Finglas near Callendar Stirling, in the heart of Scotland’s first National park, takes the crown of the Trust's largest site at over 4,000ha, purchased thanks to a £1.4 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant. The Woodland Trust is set up in Northern Ireland, with its office based in Bangor, County Down.

2000

A grand total of 250 celebratory millennium woods are created across the UK to celebrate the new millennium.

2001

Woodland Trust membership swells to 100,000 people across the UK.

2002

By the time our 30th birthday dawns, we’ve planted more than five million trees and own more than 1,100 woods.

2010

Government plans to dispose of Forestry Commission land puts ancient woodland protection in the spotlight. We move swiftly and our campaign helps block the move. Membership reaches 200,000 for the first time.

2011

Our Jubilee Woods project is launched to celebrate HM The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

2012

On our 40th anniversary we celebrate the planting of 16 million trees and ownership of 1,276 woods.

2014

We commemorate 100 years since the First World War with the creation of four centenary woods – one each for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

2018

James Dodd becomes our 250,000th member after joining with his family.

2019

Ben Shieldaig – our first mountain – is acquired, thanks to a hugely successful fundraising appeal

2022

As we turn 50, we are proud to have inspired 500,000 people from the UK and beyond to be a member or supporter of the Woodland Trust, to care for more than 1,000 free, public woods and have got more than 50 million trees growing.

50 years and still growing

Today, although the threats to woodland have changed, they are just as significant. And our vision for a UK rich in woods and trees for people and wildlife is as relevant as ever.