A new national map, designed to support anyone involved with planting or planning trees in Wales, from community groups and charities to farmers, foresters and public bodies is now freely available via Data Map Wales, a Welsh Government data portal.
Using the latest satellite imagery and national LiDAR survey data, the research and map identifies trees outside of woodlands, across Wales, revealing these trees make up 30% of national tree cover across Wales.
The map will help to identify where opportunities lie for new planting, building on current schemes or identifying where lone trees could be connected to other trees and woodland.
The data provided will also support targeted tree planting, help to identify the most effective places to plant new trees, as well as aiding organisations to plan planting that complements existing canopy.
Each canopy patch in the dataset falls into one of four categories:
- Lone Trees – individual tree canopies.
- Groups of Trees – small clusters of trees forming a shared canopy.
- Small Woodlands – larger areas not included in the NFI woodland map.
- Overhanging Canopy – tree canopy leaning over existing NFI woodland (which can be used alongside NFI woodland maps).
Trees outside of woodland play a critical role in urban and rural areas, as they store carbon, regulate temperatures, and mitigate against the impacts of climate change, such as flooding and over-heating of towns and cities.
