Veteran Tree Surveys

In 1998, we developed the Specialist Survey Method for Veteran Trees, with Natural England and the Ancient Tree Forum, which has been adopted by The National Trust, local authorities and The Woodland Trust as the standard for surveying veteran, ancient and historic trees.

In consultation with our clients, associates and other managers of historic landscapes, we developed a system for producing management plans for veteran trees that support managers to successfully maintain and improve the condition of these sensitive and historic trees.

At the same time, we developed methods for managing veteran trees that minimise the stress caused by pruning, address the requirements of tree roots and enhance deadwood habitat, this method has become known as Conservation Arboriculture and we provide training to the tree surgeons who carry out the works in order that they can become skilled in applying the principals of Conservation Arboriculture.

Managers need to prioritise the application of resources and so we have developed a suite of scoring systems, for viability and habitat contribution, to identify those trees that will be most likely to benefit from intervention, those most at risk and those trees that provide highest levels habitat benefit. These scoring systems also enable the comparison of veteran and historic tree populations between sites and over time.

Our experience

Treework Environmental Practice have extensive experience in surveying and assessing veteran trees and have been instrumental in the development of methods for evaluating veteran tree habitat and viability.

Our highly experienced and efficient tree surveyors undertake surveys ranging form detailed individual tree inspections to inventories of populations numbering 50,000+ trees.

As experienced surveyors, we provide detailed veteran tree surveys which improve tree habitat and viability.

Veteran tree management

Treework Environmental Practice also provides the following veteran tree management services:

• Formulation of tree safety policy and / or strategy
• Continued tree management
• Tender Preparation
• Training in veteran tree surgery techniques
• Contract administration and management of veteran tree surgery work
• Environmental assessments

Service overview

Our highly experienced and efficient tree surveyors undertake veteran tree surveys ranging from detailed individual tree inspections to inventories of large populations of trees (typically 5,000 to 50,000+).

Our range of veteran tree surveys:

• Individual detailed tree inspections
• Assessments of habitat provided by individual veteran trees
• Assessment of signs of plant, insect and animal species associated with veteran trees
• Assessment of tree viability
• Assessment of tree risk
• Prescription of targeted veteran tree works specifications for long-term management
• Quantification of fallen and standing deadwood (using the Line Transect Method)
• Trees plotted onto GIS or using GPS/Laser

We can provide the following outputs:

• Data in a range of standard digital formats for integration in database management systems and GIS
• Analyses and reports on findings
• Maps of tree positions with legends for easy identification of tree characteristics
• Easy to read schedules of survey data
• Prioritised works schedules
• Works orders
• Archiving of completed work
• Assessment of implications for future policy
• Overview of the veteran tree population viability