The Black Country Urban Forest (BCUF) is a project to make urban

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

ry the characteristic landscape of one of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

's industrial areas, The Black Country. 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 royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), is an area of land with different definitions in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The term ''forest'' in the ordinary modern understanding refers to an area of wooded land; however, the ...

– a large area of land with many different land uses and activities, except that instead of being dedicated to the enjoyment of the privileged few, the BCUF is an amenity for all the people, from all backgrounds, that live in it.

Origins

The BCUF resulted from the “Millennium Forest”, the most ambitious urban

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

project ever undertaken in the UK – a huge program of urban tree planting and management of urban woodlands, creating a tremendous increase in the area of woodland in the area. The Black Country (the part of the

West Midlands conurbation The West Midlands conurbation is the large conurbation that includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton and the towns of Sutton Coldfield, Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, Solihull, Stourbridge and Halesowen in the English West Midland ...

consisting of the city of

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

and the Metropolitan Boroughs of

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

, Sandwell, and

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

) was the 'forge' of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

, and the legacy of this was huge areas of derelict land. Even at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries the Midland reafforesting association was creating new woodlands on former

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

tips and other suitable sites across the area. At the end of the 20th Century ambitious targets were set and huge increases in planting proposed.

Development

The successful project, “Treeways”, focused on transport corridors in the area, and acted as a pilot. The four voluntary sector principals in this project – National Urban Forestry Unit (NUFU),

Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country is a wildlife trust covering Birmingham and the Black Country in the West Midlands of England. It covers five of the seven districts of the West Midlands county: Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwe ...

British Trust for Conservation Volunteers The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) is a British community volunteering charity focused on environmental conservation through practical tasks undertaken by volunteers. Until 1 May 2012, it traded as BTCV – British Trust for Conservation Volunte ...

(BTCV) and Groundwork Black Country. They went on to work closely with the four local authorities 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. As well as tree planting and woodland management, woodland based businesses were supported, events and activities organised to engage local communities and studies of the area's

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

were carried out. The Millennium Forest project was funded by the UK's Millennium Fund, matched by regeneration funding from the UK government and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, grants from the

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...

and many other sources. The total cost was over £7 million. A similar and wider project was started in 2006/7, the £50m Black Country Urban Park. Responsibility for the Black Country Urban Forest is now shared between Groundwork Black Country and the landowners, each of whom entered into a 99-year deed of dedication, a legal agreement with the

Millennium Commission The Millennium Commission, a United Kingdom public body, was set up to celebrate the turn of the millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery to assist communities in marking the close of the second millennium and celebra ...

External links

Wildlife Trust: Black Country Urban Forest
(PDF)
Millennium.gov.uk
{{Authority control Geography of the West Midlands (county) Forests and woodlands of the West Midlands (county) Urban forestry organizations Black Country