We are inviting you to purchase a tree in the United Synagogue’s first woodland groves.
Every tree bought by our community will be planted together in dedicated groves within a new 119 acre native woodland being created by the Woodland Trust in Norfolk. This will create a unique Jewish environmental legacy here in the UK.
The stunning site can be visited by all and will be a fantastic future educational resource for our youth and wider community.
The Trees, bought online, will be selected, planted and maintained by the Woodland Trust at this protected site to maximise the ecological benefits. Members from the same United Synagogue community who collectively buy 750+ trees will have their trees planted together in an specially allocated grove, named after their shul.
Trees can be bought in any number and make an ideal sustainable gift, for Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, births, birthdays, in someone else’s name or as a memorial. Confirmation and a downloadable certificate will be provided for every purchase.
Our community has already purchased more than 1,500 trees, filling two dedicated United Synagogue groves. We are dedicating the first to His Majesty the King and the second in memory of the victims of October 7.
Trees contribute enormously to our environment by absorbing harmful CO2, providing oxygen and ameliorating the climate, improving air quality, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife. Planting 37,000 trees, one for each member, will sequester approximately 37,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in 20 years’ time (one 20-year-old tree will typically sequester one ton of carbon which is 3.67 tons of CO2 roughly equivalent to a year’s CO2 footprint for one person in the UK). At the UN Climate Summit 2019 it was decided that over 11 billion trees will be needed to be planted to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and mitigate global warming. Here in the UK, 50 million trees need to be planted to detoxify our air and restore lost wildlife habitats.
The new 119 acre Woodland site will be created on treeless farmland in the beautiful village of Thompson, Norfolk. The map below shows how the site will be transformed from flat fields, into a thriving natural habitat. The trees we buy will significantly increase tree coverage in one of the most tree depleted parts of the UK, and provide:
- Wetland areas where native trees like Willow and Alder can colonise
- Pingo Ponds (post-glacial depressions formed at the end of the ice age), supporting threatened wildlife such as; water plants, dragonfly species, aquatic snails and England’s rarest amphibian the Northern Pool frog and the Crested Newt
- Habitats for ‘Red Listed’ Biodiversity action plan bird species
The Woodland Trust aim is to plant over 140,000 native trees to create a woodland which will be complemented by wet and dry grasslands, wood pasture and hedges, as well as open space and a network of paths. All these elements will work together to act as a buffer for the adjacent SSSIs (Site of Special Scientific Interest), improving the area for the many rare and protected species who call it home.
The United Synagogue has secured two groves of trees within the site (750 trees in each). Please see the map below showing where our secured groves will be. We aim to continue to purchase more groves as more trees are bought by our community.