Stirling’s Tree & Woodland Strategy 2026

Trees enrich our lives and landscapes in a multitude of ways. They support our health, economy, culture, climate and provide important food and shelter for wildlife.

Across our landscape, trees and woodlands and the connections between them support nature on land, in soil, in lochs and rivers, they also help to slow the flow of water and improve water quality.

In our towns and settlements, trees provide protection during extreme heat and rain, they improve the air we breathe, support our mental and physical health, they help to restore nature and create attractive places where people want to live, work and play.

This strategy has been developed with local expertise. Treelink Stirling, a volunteer led charity with the ambition of connecting trees and people, have worked together with Stirling Council to develop and draft Stirling’s Tree and Woodland Strategy.

Why does Stirling need a Tree & Woodland Strategy?

In 2019 Stirling Council recognised the Climate & Nature Emergency and has committed to restoring nature and transitioning to a net-zero carbon economy by 2045. Protecting, enhancing, expanding and connecting our trees and woodland are an effective way to increase the potential of land to store carbon, while also benefiting the health and wellbeing of local people and nature.

Stirling’s Tree & Woodland Strategy will provide a framework to guide the Council and partners to increase and enhance our tree and woodland resource across the Stirling Council area by these three principles:

1. We will LEAD in our own Council activities – the land, trees and woodland we own and manage.
2. We will ENABLE the delivery of the vision through policies and decisions that we take as a Council.
3. We will INSPIRE all residents, businesses, other organisations and visitors to get involved and take action.

What will the strategy help us to do?

Improving and expanding Stirling’s local treescape throughout settlements and rural areas is challenging, and this Tree & Woodland Strategy will be an essential tool to tackle this task. It will help Stirling Council services, residents, land managers, developers, businesses, community groups and any organisation with an interest in trees to drive forward action to meet the Tree & Woodland Strategy’s vision:

“We value the multifunctional benefits trees and woodlands provide. We work to protect, enhance, increase and connect trees and woodlands to improve our residents’ lives, Stirling’s economy, our environment and nature.”

A collaborative, cross-service, partnership approach will be key to successful delivery of the actions.

What progress has been made so far?

Work is already underway.

Since 2020 Stirling Council has planted 39,000 trees in and around settlements. Along with tree planting and forestry projects led by others, the total number of trees planted in Stirling region since 2020 is nearly 3.5 million.

Over winter 2025/26 several community organisations planted over 2000 trees on Stirling Council land with support of council staff and many dedicated local volunteers. A great example of this is Treelink Stirling planting 1700 trees across several sites, involving 53 local volunteers who invested at least 265 volunteer hours, as well as distributing 100 fruit and nut trees to local residents living in areas of Stirling with fewer street and garden trees. The Tree & Woodland Strategy will pave the way for more of this essential local action.

How is this work funded?

Stirling Council’s tree planting programme is funded through the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund.

Get involved

We are keen to hear your views on the draft Tree & Woodland Strategy. You can download and read the strategy here and take the survey to tell us what you think.

We would like to hear your views on the strategy which will help shape the final version of the document and how we deliver this work into the future.

If you would like to make a more detailed response you can email this to sustainability@stirling.gov.uk

If you have any questions about the survey you can email us on insights@stirling.gov.uk