MORE than 40,000 native trees are set to be planted on farms across Devon. 

The trees are to help farmers and landowners to reduce land run-off and improve natural water quality. The planting scheme is part of South West Water's catchment management programme, Upstream Thinking. 

Provided by the Woodland Trust, the trees will be delivered and planted by Devon Wildlife Trust. There will be a range of native tree species such as blackthorn, hazel and oak delivered to farms in the area. 

The trees will encourage water to soak into the ground to help stabilise the soil and reduce the risk of run-off from land into watercourses and consequently improving water quality. The trees will also help to capture carbon and increase biodiversity. 

Carolyn Cadman, director of natural resources at South West Water, said: “Without intervention, run-off from land can end up in our rivers and reservoirs, harming important habitats and impacting water quality for customers. Bad water quality means that we need to use more intensive and expensive treatment before we can supply it to customers.

“Upstream Thinking is a unique industry-leading approach through which South West Water is working in partnership to tackle the issue of land run-off head on, delivering multiple benefits for the landscape, wildlife, ecology and raw water quality. We are proud to be leading on this important work.”

Trees will be deliveredto around 60 farms across eight river catchments. This means the number of trees planted by the Upstream Thinking programme will be 260,000. 

The programme is delivered in partnership with: Westcountry Rivers Trust; the Wildlife Trusts in Devon and Cornwall; the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group and South West Lakes Trust.

"The benefits of trees are numerous and we are pleased to be able to support the Upstream Thinking project," added Eleanor Lewis, South West outreach manager for the Woodland Trust.

"Partnership working is key and this highlights how organisations can come together to work with landowners and farmers to find solutions to some of the problems we face.”

South West Water has committed to boosting nature recovery through planting 300,000 trees by 2025.