Ripples from the Roots: Celebrating Woodlands for Water
As the Woodlands for Water project finishes, we reflect on the impact it had.
06/06/25
The Woodlands for Water project, which planted and restored trees near watercourses across England to create riparian wildlife corridors and buffer strips, came to a close in March 2025.
It is widely accepted that creating more woodland is an effective way to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises. Rivers are the perfect passage to breathe life back into our land through a network spanning 200,000km in England,
The Woodlands for Water project ran from October 2021 – March 2025. It was the first project developed by the Riverscapes partnership*, which, with support from Defra, aimed to boost the creation of riparian woodland corridors, spanning six river catchment areas from Devon to Cumbria and the whole the National Trust estate in England.
At the end of the project, the total hectares of trees planted through the project came to 288.25ha across all pathfinder regions. Approximately 998,974 trees were planted across 73 new woodland sites.
The achievements of Woodlands for Water highlight the importance of creating riparian corridors to support climate resilience.
You can read below about some of the new riparian tree planting sites that have been created by The National Trust and our member trusts, including Eden Rivers Trust, Norfolk Rivers Trust, Severn Rivers Trust, Westcountry Rivers Trust, West Cumbria Rivers Trust, and Wye & Usk Foundation.
*A partnership between The Rivers Trust, Woodland Trust and The National Trust