Catterall Micro-wood

Catterall's micro-wood (also known as a Miyawaki forest) was planted in November 2024. The planting process involves ground preparation (soil cultivation and improvement), installing a fence and a community volunteer tree planting day. It covers an area of around 200 square meters, which is about the size of a singles tennis court, and planted with around 850 very young trees, shrubs and plants. It needs little maintenance over its life span and will self-thin. By following this process, the trees will grow faster than other traditional woodland planting methods. A micro-wood will play an important role in providing homes and food for birds, butterflies, insects, and other invertebrates. It will also help fight against climate change by locking carbon into the soil at a faster rate than other newly planted trees. As an ever evolving environmental feature it will look very different each year it grows. It reaches maturity in about 30 years and the end result is a little slice of mature, robust forest in a park. This project is a collaboration between Lancashire County Council's Treescapes Team and Catterall Parish Council. Funding comes from the Coronation Living Heritage Fund, which supports local tree planting projects to commemorate the King's coronation. The Coronation Living Heritage Fund supported by £2.5m in funding has been made available through DEFRA’s £758m Nature for Climate Fund.