How it all began

The roots of The Conservation Foundation go back to a tree planting ceremony in October 1979 at a time when it had been estimated that some 15 million native English Elms had been lost as a result of Dutch elm disease.  The event took place in Harlow, Essex and the elms were Sapporo Autumn Gold developed at the University of Wisconsin. They were planted by the US Ambassador Kingman Brewster (below) at the European Headquarters of Pitney Bowes, the mailing and paper handling company as part of the launch of Elms Across Europe.

Further ceremonial plantings followed including two elms planted in the grounds of Windsor Castle  by Prince Philip.  As a result, considerable interest was created and many requests for these unique elms were received from parks, gardens and farms.  An Elm Education Project was created by Prof David Bellamy which involved 500 schools planting trees and recording their history in  50  year diaries.  Pitney Bowes established a propagation unit  at Harlow using root stock provided by Wisconsin University and trees were also available commercially from Crowders of Horncastle.

Planting elms across Europe

As well as a considerable number of plantings throughout the UK, elms were also planted in Ireland, France Germany and Austria.

The original trees were hybrids produced by propagating seeds of healthy elms growing in Siberia and Japan.  Whilst officially elms, they were not native to this country. What Elms Across Europe did was create considerable interest in elms, provide an elm which enabled the elm biodiversity to be maintained and showed that there was an opportunity for commercial organisations to support and become involved in environmental issues.

As a result Pitney Bowes supported the launch in 1982 and the early years of The Conservation Foundation.

The Foundation went on to create and manage  the wide range of projects and initiatives which are detailed on this website, but it continued with the original interest in elms.  When one of the country’s leading botanists, Frances Rose, suggested that more native elms may have survived Dutch elm disease than had first been thought, the Foundation began researching this possibility and began to identify a number of healthy, mature elms which have been growing for at least 60 years and had therefore resisted or survived the disease.  Cuttings were taken and grown into whips and  given to farmers and gardeners able to record their growth and resistance.

With the development of micro-propagation this programme has been extended and this Spring, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original elm plantings, the Foundation is giving away trees to schools in The Great British Elm Experiment.

As well as a considerable number of plantings throughout the UK, elms were also planted in Ireland, France Germany and Austria.

The original trees were hybrids produced by propagating seeds of healthy elms growing in Siberia and Japan.  Whilst officially elms, they were not native to this country. What Elms Across Europe did was create considerable interest in elms, provide an elm which enabled the elm biodiversity to be maintained and showed that there was an opportunity for commercial organisations to support and become involved in environmental issues.