Tree Beacons: Linking the First World War with our forests in Wales

2019 marked the centenary of the Forestry Act 1919. This established public forests across Wales and the UK, and was a response to the depletion of national timber supplies during the First World War. To mark this milestone, Natural Resources Wales created the Centenary Trees celebratory project.

Natural Resources Wales is working with communities across Wales to establish Tree Beacons all around the country. These Tree Beacons are groups of 1-100 trees, chosen for their colourful foliage that will ‘burst into flame’ every autumn. The planting is expected to take between three to five years to complete. The Tree Beacons serve two purposes: first, they are a visible, year-round symbolic recognition of the achievements of foresters past and present in Wales. Secondly, they commemorate the hardships and losses sustained by the people of Wales during the First World War, by emulating the symbolic Beacons of Light that were lit around the UK on the Armistice Day Centenary in 2018. As the trees mature, they will provide living beacons of fire around Armistice Day, and be a lasting legacy that links the First World War with Natural Resources Wales, the former Forestry Commission in Wales, and the future of our land and environment in Wales.

Right: Clare Pillman, Chief Executive of Natural Resources Wales, and Dafydd Elis-Thomas MS, Deputy Minister for Culture Sport and Tourism mark the dedication ceremony by planting a native sessile oak tree in Natural Resources Wales’ Garwnant arboretum at the dedication event on 28 Nov 2019 © Image by James Pearson, Natural Resources Wales