What is The Mighty Oaks Initiative?
A not-for-profit undertaking, the Mighty Oaks Initiative, launched at the beginning of 2025 and supported by Iceni International, aims to play a part in securing the future environment by planting future oak forests at strategic locations around central Europe, thereby helping to secure the future of an essential and dwindling environmental resource
Mighty Oaks Initiative FAQs
Are the saplings sustainably sourced?
Yes, this is most important. All of the acrons used in this initiative are sourced from locations whereby if left un-harvested they would not be viable to grow into trees. All of the acorns used are collected by volunteers, planted and reared in an environmentally sustainable manner without the unnecessary use of pesticides and fungicides. This approach ensures that we achieve a net population growth in oaks, in a local environment in which they have been proved to both thrive and produce a broad systemic benefit for the local wildlife population as a whole.
The Oak plantations will be managed in a sustainable manner to ensure that they are able to mature into a future sustainable forest environment. When establishing the plantations, this will be done with a view to their future roles as mature oak forests. The spacing of the oaks will be appropriate to allow other species of plants and trees to populate the area between the oaks, while ensuring that the oaks retain sufficient space to allow them to grow into healthy mature trees without loss of examples due to forces of competition.
What location will the oaks be located and will I be able to visit the location?
We have chosen a number of sites across central and northern Europe where land costs and growing conditions are optimal for achieving rapid developments under this programme. The main considerations are choosing sites where costs are low in order to achieve maximum efficiency and plant the greatest number of trees while at the same time ensuring that the physical environment and weather are ideal for allowing healthy growth of the oak sapling maximising their chances of reaching maturity. The acorns are harvested in the close geographic proximity to the proposed planting site, ensuring that only oaks appropriate to the local environment and growing conditions are used.
Are the Oaks planted all year around?
No, the optimum planting season is during the Autumn. The acorns, the raw resource for the future oak trees, are collected by volunteers during October and November when the acorns are freshest and are starting their germination cycle. These acorns are then brought on over the winter in a sheltered but natural environment, and planting and germination conditions are optimal to allow the acorn to become established over winter and achieve maximum growth up to spring. The resulting oaks are then kept in a nursery environment for a further year, before being planted the following Autumn in order to become established in their new environment over winter in time for the following spring growth cycle. The first oaks to be planted under this initiative are already growing having been harvested late in 2024. It is planned that these will be placed in the ground in the plantation, which will become a future oak forest during Autumn 2025.
The rest of the year is given over to land maintenance in order to ensure that they have the optimum environment in which to thrive, and preparing additional land for future plantings.
With saplings being planted out in autumn, depending upon the time of year that you join the plan, it may be some months before your tree is planted. However, we will keep you informed of the planting schedule and issue a certificate of planting to your company once the tree has been planted out. In the event that we have a number of previously planted trees from a previous season we may allocate you one of these.
What species of Oaks will you be planting?
It is important to plant locally native species in order to maximise their viability for a long term future. The first planting, in SW France, will largely be a mixture of locally indigenous Sessile oak, and Pedunculate oak, both of which are indigenous and ideally suited for the location.
Is it possible to visit the plantations?
Yes, as soon as the plantations are established and stable, they will be open for visitors to enjoy. Additionally, the plantations will be non-hunting areas in order to ensure that no forms of exploitation can cause harm to the environment and animals which choose to make the plantations, and in time forests, their home.
Will we be allocated a specific, identifiable tree?
No, tagging or marking trees in any way can cause the tree damage and lead to illness.