A veteran tree or legacy tree is a tree which, because of its great age, size or condition, is of exceptional cultural, landscape or nature conservation value.

Definition

Veteran trees vary in age depending upon their species and location, but may be several hundred years old. Smaller and shorter-lived tree species (such as orchard

Orchard

An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...

 trees) may begin to develop some veteran features when only a few decades old. Size is usually used to define veteran trees. This may be size alone: for example, a girth

Diameter at breast height

Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree. DBH is one of the most common dendrometric measurements....

 of over 3 metre at 1.5 metres (5 ft) may be used as a test; alternatively, different girths may be set for species of different sizes, and the presence of veteran tree features may also be considered.

Veteran trees often have features of particularly high nature conservation value, such as dead limbs, hollows, rot-holes, water pools, seepages, woodpecker

Woodpecker

Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....

 holes, splits, loose bark, limbs reaching the ground, and epiphytic plants and lichens. Few of these features are found on younger trees, and they provide habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

s for very many species of animals and fungi, some of which are rare. Such features are sometimes removed or damaged by pruning or other arboricultural practices.

Many of the oldest trees are pollards, as pollarding

Pollarding

Pollarding is a pruning system in which the upper branches of a tree are removed, promoting a dense head of foliage and branches. It has been common in Great Britain and Europe since medieval times and is practiced today in urban areas worldwide, primarily to maintain trees at a predetermined...

 removes the weight and windage of the upper trunk and so reduces the chances of major damage, and it also maintains the tree in a vigorous state.

Veteran trees occur in many situations, occasionally in dense woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

, but more commonly as hedgerow trees, on village green

Village green

A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...

s, and in ancient park

Park

A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...

s and other wood pasture

Wood pasture

Wood pasture is a historical European land management system in which open woodland provided shelter and forage for grazing animals, particularly sheep and cattle, as well as woodland products such as timber for construction and fuel, coppiced stems for wattle and charcoal making and pollarded poles...

.

United Kingdom

Veteran trees are more frequent in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 than in many other parts of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. In the United Kingdom in recent years, these trees are being recorded by the Ancient Tree Hunt

Ancient Tree Hunt (UK)

The Ancient Tree Hunt is a campaign by the Woodland Trust. It seeks to catalogue all veteran trees in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. To date over 50,000 trees have been recorded; by 2011 it is projected to have grown to at least 100,000. It is hoped that it will allow a better...

 so that a national database can be created. Volunteer groups such as the Wokingham District Veteran Tree Association, the Dorset Greenwood Tree Project and the Ashford Veteran Tree Initiative are crucial to the success of this scheme.

Although some initiatives have strict rules on how to measure girth and use GPS devices

Global Positioning System

The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...

 to document the location of such trees accurately, other schemes rely on members of the public to report large trees. The public have been encouraged to hug big trees in their area to get a measure for their size and report their findings to Natural England

Natural England

Natural England is the non-departmental public body of the UK government responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, freshwater and marine environments, geology and soils, are protected and improved...

 or another Veteran Tree organization. 19th-century maps are also being used to find old trees in places such as Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...

.

Australia

In Australia some of the oldest veteran trees are intimately connected with social, cultural and legal practices of the Aboriginal peoples.

However even the more recent European history of settlement has produced historical linkages through resilient individual trees that have survived when all other traces of past events have long since disappeared. Along with the very obvious and well documented wholesale clearance of vegetation, European settlers also demonstrated an understanding of the importance of trees in their immediate surroundings.

Existing prominent trees were very often used as markers, survey points indicating boundaries of both private and government land tenure. Some of Australia’s most famous trees hold an exalted position in our shared psyche simply because they were marked (blazed) by 19th century explorers.

Australia does not have the history of the commons and parklands that help explain these landscape forms elsewhere. The new settlers did however bring with them an appreciation of the value of trees for fuel, fodder and raw material for building; many of them also showed an appreciation of the amenity value of trees, planting large spreading shade trees on their properties and within their new founded towns and cities.

Many of the veteran trees identified today are living reminders of the previous patterns of settlement, reflecting the economic, cultural and social organization influencing the lives of those living on the land. They often display the physical scars of traumatic events both man made and natural, government authorities national, state and local recognize their importance in legislation and local laws to protect significant vegetation.

The Veteran Tree Group, a volunteer organisation, is applying the successful model from the Ancient Tree Forum in the UK starting the process of documentation of veteran trees in Australia, and providing best practice advice to anyone wanting to understand more about these significant elements of our environment.

External links

• The Veteran Tree Group blog
• Ancient Tree Forum
• The Future for Veteran Trees. English Nature
  English Nature
  English Nature was the United Kingdom government agency that promoted the conservation of wildlife, geology and wild places throughout England between 1990 and 2006...
  
  , 2000. ISBN 1 85716 509 8
• English Heritage: Veteran Trees information — English Heritage
  English Heritage
  English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
  
  
• Veteran Trees Management Handbook, English Nature, 2000. ISBN 1 85716 474 1