About us

MOOR TREES exists to grow and plant native broadleaved woodlands and trees on Dartmoor to respond to the climate and nature crises. Trees have a valuable role to play both in terms of carbon sequestration, creating habitats for wildlife and reducing flood risks and are an essential feature in any landscape. Dartmoor has areas of unique habitat and has some of the few remaining fragments of temperate rainforest in the UK. These woods are teaming with wildlife and nature and need support to be restored, enhanced, and expanded.

Our charity provides the local community with unrivalled access to locally sourced and grown broadleaved trees, carefully identified, and selected to provide a diverse range of species ideally suited for planting in the southwest of England. These are grown in our community tree nurseries, nurtured, and tended by a growing team of engaged volunteers.

MOOR TREES provides a seed to woodland service by engaging the local community right the way through the process from seed collecting to germinating and nurturing saplings in our community tree nurseries until they are ready to be planted in their thousands each winter across Dartmoor. Our ongoing citizen science programme at one, two, five and ten year intervals monitor the wellbeing of the trees and the surrounding biodiversity, ensuring the trees we plant continue to thrive and the guardians of those trees are well informed of any maintenance they require.

Volunteering with MOOR TREES to support us on our woodland creation mission also ensures that local people have the opportunity to gain experience, form friendships and have a role in responding to the climate and nature crises by being at the frontline of habitat restoration. We embrace the diversity of our community, working with various groups. This ranges from individuals seeking to gain new skills for the job market to school leavers, the elderly and those with special educational needs, alongside students with a passion for our cause. At the core of everything we do at our tree nurseries and out on sites across Dartmoor lies equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion. We go the extra mile to ensure that everyone can be part of our mission.

We have proudly created 161 new woodlands, amounting to 168,000 trees, each woodland planted brings a new habitat to life, this has immeasurable benefits for both the people who visit and the wildlife who establish their homes there.

Our aim is to deliver significant benefits in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss; woodlands that co-exist with farming, archaeology and recreation, connecting people to nature and to their heritage.