Sherwood Forest, Robin Hood’s Hideout, In Trouble
Sherwood Forest is legendary for being Robin Hood’s hideout when he lived and stole from the rich. In its time it was more than 100,000 acres of Nottinghamshire. However today with it being cut down over the years for ships, towns, and other things, and from natural causes it has dwindled to 450 acres. Not only that but of the 1000 trees still in the forest, only 450 of those are still alive. 
This is actually not a totally bad thing. The dead and dying trees play a vital role by being habitats for animals, plants, and bugs that thrive in such trees. And ancient oaks, which are what makes up Sherwood Forest, actually spend 300 of their 900 year life span, dying. The ones that are dying are declining at an alarming rate or one per year. In February 2007 four of those that are dead but still standing, fell to high winds in one night and three others during the year.
Trees in Robin Hood’s old home are watching to help keep even those dying from causing damage to other trees but something has to change or the entire forest may end up gone. Currently there are 15 organizations that are working together on a project called “Sherwood: The Living Legend” to rebuild the forest. They want to plant 250,000 trees to bring the different parts of the forest back together to make it stronger and alive again.
This plan would more than double the core size of the forest and keep its ecology alive. The plan would also have visitor and educational facilities for people and have several walking, cycling, and horse trails. Local communities surrounding Sherwood Forest would be able to celebrate the history and legends better as well.
“Sherwood: The Living Legend” is back by celebrities who have played Robin Hood over the years such as Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Jonas Armstrong who currently plays the beloved bandit on the BBC series. The real life, present day Sheriff of Nottingham is also supporting this plan.
In order to be able to fund this project and keep one of histories most important forests, the group is trying to win a grant from Britain’s National Lottery for $100 million. The lottery gives grants to charitable causes. The Sherwood Forest project is in the running but nothing has been awarded yet. If you would like to learn more about this tragedy and hopeful outcome, visit http://www.robinhood.co.uk/
I don’t know why, but I never realized it was a real place. Silly, huh? I would love to visit this forest and hope that the project receives the grant.
I would love to be able to help out myself. So I guess all we can do is pray. I think the interesting part is that now we know why Robin Hood could have hid so well in those woods with how big they were back then.