Community Tree Nurseries

Findings and Recommendations

The first year of this research has revealed the following:

The evidence review assessed 54 studies and documents to show that:

• The size of the community group involved (i.e. the numbers of people supporting the nursery) and business size (by number of trees produced) impacts success and sustainability.
• The success of CTNs can rest on support to deal with uncertain incomes derived from local and regional markets for trees which tend to be poorly developed or unstable.
• CTNs can build markets for their trees, but this may take between 5 to 10 years. Free trees from other government or NGO projects can disrupt CTN development, even where these free tree schemes only last a short period of time.

Case study research with 16 CTNs across the UK, suggested that:

• It is possible to characterise CTNs both by size (production volumes) and type according to organisation, governance and objectives, namely: Organisation and project-based CTNs; Enterprises; Community-based CTNs; and Networks.
• Not all CTNs have either the capacity, or the desire to upscale. Upscaling may represent significant business investment and risk, or may simply change the nature of the initiative to one that is not desired by those who manage the CTN.
• There is a poor level of understanding about biosecurity issues and what that means for CTN production practices.
• Support that could overcome the upscaling and sustainability challenges CTNs face include:
  • Covering the costs of nursery establishment to offset lack of income and cost management over the first two years,
  • Covering the costs of nursery infrastructure and land,
  • Providing financial and other support to maintaining staff and volunteer numbers and contributions,
  • Providing training – nursery skills, biosecurity, leadership and nursery management,
  • Connecting CTNs and members to a wider community of practice.