Green Task Force of veterans aims to plant millions of trees
Former soldiers benefit from involvement in plan to create huge new forests
A PIONEERING treeplanting scheme is helping veterans by employing them to plant swathes of woodland across the north of England.
Former Royal Navy engineer Dr Andy Steel, who has set up the Green Task Force, believes ex-servicemen and women can help provide the manpower that is lacking to meet ambitious – some would say impossible – targets set out by the Government’s advisory Climate Change Committee to create almost 2m hectares of new woodland by 2050. That includes planting 50m trees in the Northern Forest alone.
Around 15,000 people leave the Armed Forces every year, with around 40 per cent returning to Yorkshire, traditionally a massive recruiting ground. Almost a fifth of those who have been in a combat zone suffer from complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
The aim is to have a group of trained arboriculturalists, covering areas of around 60 square miles, spread out over the country, who would both plant and manage woodlands.
Hull-based Dr Steel said: “Ultimately, if we have teams of about 30 in each location, and using these guys on zero hour contracts and some on full-time contracts eventually, we are hoping in Yorkshire we can create up to 100 jobs.
“You need professional, organised and resourced planning and expertise to deliver a commitment on this scale. Trees not planted properly will simply die and great efforts can go to waste.”
Dr Steel returned to the UK in 2019 after 18 years in Asia where he ran a charity called the
PATT Foundation, that planted 3m trees in seven countries. The Green Task Force, which he set up six months ago, is the commercial arm of the organisation.
Operations manager Stephen Braddock, from Bridlington, became a tree surgeon after leaving The Royal Signals 20 years ago.
Mr Braddock said ex-servicemen came out of their shells when they were working outside together.
“We had a guy the other day who was an ex-substance abuser – to see him smile and enjoy himself, that was massive for us.
For us it’s like being back in the forces, back in the Naafi bar, back with your own kind – you feel comfortable together.”
Last week they planted trees in Hull and Otterburn, near Skipton; next week they move onto Middlesbrough and return to Skipton, to plant 2,000 more. As well as a team in Yorkshire, there are others in Wales and the South West, and a new one is starting in Cornwall.
Mr Braddock said Army resettlement centres often advised veterans to become plumbers or electricians, when a lot “are
manual workers. He said: “What skills does an infantryman have to be a plumber? The guys who have done 10 years in the Army are still young, they come out and they are still fit and able. Why expect them to work in a classroom
or someone’s house? It doesn’t make sense.
“If you could signpost 10 per cent of the 8,000 leaving every year, maybe they wouldn’t go off the rails and be homeless in two years time, because they can’t cope with the pressures of life.”
However he says there’s “no chance” of the Government meeting its tree planting targets, with lack of land and local government support posing major barriers.
“In the last two or three years we have not even planted a tenth of what we should have been planting.
“We wait for councils to find and purchase land, and then the red tape to actually plant on the land is phenomenal.
“We have a farmer in Roos who wants to plant up to 10 or 11 acres, but trying to get the funding and helping him do this is so hard.
“Who’s going to spend £60,000 on a patch of land and put trees on it unless they are a multi-millionaire?”
The Green Task Force has had support from facilities management firm BAM FM, which helped with Dr Steel’s business plan, website and equipment.
For us it’s like being back in the forces – you feel comfortable together. Operations manager Stephen Braddock was in The Royal Signals.