The Wilshire Traditional Orchards Project (WTOP) is an organisation that maps, conserves and restores traditional

orchards An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of lar ...

within

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

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 ...

. Founded in 2008 it is based at the

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Wiltshire Wildlife Trust is a conservation charity based in Devizes, England which owns and manages 40 nature reserves in Wiltshire and Swindon. It also works to encourage Wiltshire's communities to live sustainable lifestyles that protect the e ...

headquarters in

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century ...

. As of January 2010 the project had 200 volunteers. The project is funded by

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

Countdown 2010 Biodiversity Action Fund.

Ground truthing

The project undertakes

ground truth Ground truth is information that is known to be real or true, provided by direct observation and measurement (i.e. empirical evidence) as opposed to information provided by inference. Etymology The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (s.v. "ground t ...

surveys to determine the reliability and accuracy of national records, age and condition of the orchards and to distinguish between traditional and non-traditional orchards. The results are published in the People's Trust for Endangered Species National Orchard Inventory. The national inventory is publicly available for download, or can be explored interactively.http://www.natureonthemap.org.uk/map.aspx?m=bap

References

External links

Wiltshire Traditional Orchards Project website
Organisations based in Wiltshire Organizations established in 2008 2008 establishments in England {{England-org-stub