Voluntary protection of heritage trees able to cover an area the size of Hiiumaa island in a month

In a month, 139 landowners have joined the call of the Loodushoiu Fond, the Estonian Private Forest Union and the Luua Forestry School to notice and preserve the heritage trees on their properties, keeping the heritage trees on more than 100,000 hectares. This is an area almost the size of Hiiumaa, which could accommodate more than five cities the size of Estonian capital City of Tallinn.

“Estonia has a total of almost 600,000 hectares of forest land under the protection by government. It is all the better because in just a month, private owners, whose land makes up one-sixth of the land area, voluntarily joined the heritage trees initiative,” said Hendrik Relve, a fellow of the Loodushoiu Fond. "We received confirmation from the vigorous involvement that the owners value acting in accordance with nature conservation."

The "Keeper of the heritage tree" initiative continue and people can join also in the future. To do this, registrate yourself on the website www.loodushoiufond.ee/polispuu. Both private and legal entities are welcome, regardless of the size of the land they own. A subscriber to the pledge promises to allow future for the tree growing on their land and is more than 220 cm in circumference, measured at chest height. Those who decide today, even though not jet having „the tree “, are also welcome to join. Subscribers will receive a label that they can use on their website or in other materials, as well as instruction material prepared by Hendrik Relve if desired.

In addition, the Loodushoiu Fond started compiling the Register of Indigenous Trees and invites landowners to write down their trees and their stories. The purpose of the register is to collect information on significant trees that are not under state protection but play an important role in the natural or cultural heritage.
“The register helps the landowner to store information related to nature and cultural history. We collect data on heritage trees together, which benefits us all, ”said Relve.

There are trees of natural value that are old, large in size or even have an interesting appearance. Indigenous trees are of cultural value, about which folk tales or traditions are known and which are important for the whole family.

The register can be found at www.loodushoiufond.ee/register and the landowner can store the traditional stories about the tree, the characteristics of the tree, the coordinates of its location, pictures and other information worth preserving. Hendrik Relve's life's work has been to collect such data, and with the help of the new database, the database of heritage trees can be supplemented and systematized, and with the register this data will be available and accessible to everyone.