Designing a tree trail is a great way to build on wonderful resources (our green spaces, as well as the first trails), attracting new visitors, enabling communities to experience their local green spaces in a different way and to learn about their trees. Envisaged benefits include:
- Encouraging residents to walk around nearby green spaces, and inspiring new users to get out into these spaces and enjoy the associated health benefits;
- Enabling volunteer-led accessible tours which will create opportunities for everyone in the local community, and in particular for those potentially experiencing social isolation (particularly elderly residents and parents with young children) to come together, meet others and enjoy green spaces;
- Providing a focal point for children and their families, and generating a useful resource, in the form of the map, activities and certificate, for local schools;
- Increased awareness and use of local green space projects, as a benefit from signposting – plus promotion of our local areas as the buzzing hotbed for green projects they might be;
- Increased ownership and pride in local green spaces as users learn about the trees in the area and are asked to identify the trees which have significance for them;
- Increased sense of stewardship and more general environmental concern;
- Increased ease of replication and reduced cost for other areas in the city, with the creation of a template and growing library of folklore and tree images from which to create their own maps.