{"id":512766,"date":"2026-06-26T21:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T21:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/512766\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T21:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T21:35:09","slug":"death-of-the-major-oak-should-spur-tree-protection-trees-and-forests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/512766\/","title":{"rendered":"Death of the Major oak should spur tree protection | Trees and forests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">I\u2019m sure people throughout the country, and indeed the world, have been greatly saddened to learn of the death of Sherwood Forest\u2019s Major oak (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2026\/jun\/18\/most-famous-tree-world-sherwood-forest-ancient-major-oak-dies\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u2018Most famous tree in the world\u2019: Sherwood Forest\u2019s 1,000-year-old Major oak dies, 18 June<\/a>). There are steps we might take collectively towards a fitting memorial for this remarkable tree.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">First, we need to insist that our trees are given proper legal protection. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2025\/apr\/16\/uk-government-report-calls-for-taskforce-to-save-englands-historic-trees\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Guardian reported<\/a> last year that the government has commissioned a report on this topic. One fitting memorial to the Major oak would be to contact your\u00a0MP and urge them to further this issue urgently.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Another would be to log ancient, veteran or notable trees in your area on the <a href=\"https:\/\/ati.woodlandtrust.org.uk\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Woodland Trust\u2019s online tree inventory<\/a>. And a third would be to request a tree preservation order for any trees in your area that enhance your surroundings. Anyone can do this, and a shared national effort in memory of the Major oak could be\u00a0transformative.<br \/>Prof Rebecca Clifford<br \/>Durham University<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\"> Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2026\/jun\/26\/mailto:guardian.letters@theguardian.com?body=Please%20include%20your%20name,%20full%20postal%20address%20and%20phone%20number%20with%20your%20letter%20below.%20Letters%20are%20usually%20published%20with%20the%20author%27s%20name%20and%20city\/town\/village.%20The%20rest%20of%20the%20information%20is%20for%20verification%20only%20and%20to%20contact%20you%20where%20necessary.\" data-link-name=\"in body link \" https:=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">email<\/a> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/tone\/letters\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">letters<\/a> section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019m sure people throughout the country, and indeed the world, have been greatly saddened to learn of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-512766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}