Management of Special Ancient and Veteran Trees 

Veteran Tree Surveying

The UK is thought to have Europe’s highest number of ancient trees, so a significant amount of effective management is needed to secure their lasting presence in the natural landscape. 

We can provide extensive expertise in managing ancient trees such preparing management plans both for ancient/veteran trees and ancient woodlands to help protect vulnerable ancient and veteran trees on your site so that their historical, cultural, biodiversity, and landscape benefits are retained for the future and to identify issues and record the way in which trees will be assessed and managed, in relation to the risk posed by trees, and that a reasonable and practicable approach has been taken which is proportionate to the risk.

A vast array of factors can affect ancient trees – from housing and infrastructure development and agricultural practices to vandalism, neglect and, by contrast, excessive intervention.  All of these must be considered when preparing management plans, but I follow five main principles to identify objectives, treatment and phasing of any interventions.

• Ensuring avoidable losses
• Safeguarding structural integrity, including managing safety risk
• Protecting the tree and the habitats it provides
• Managing the surrounding environment and vegetation
• Addressing contingencies for factors that might affect mortality (e.g. diseases, disorders, climate change, pollution, changing land use)
  
  

There are two broad types of veteran trees, those that have been actively managed at some stage in their life and those that have not, a tree should not have anything done to it unless you can demonstrate a need to, the decision to prune an ancient tree should not be taken lightly.  Ancient and Veteran trees are found in different situations and there is not a set guideline that will work for every tree in every situation, every tree is an individual, even on a single site, and different management options and prescriptions are needed for different trees.