The first week of spring is being marked by giving 250 young elm trees to schools across the country. The Great British Elm Experiment is an attempt by the Conservation Foundation to re-establish this iconic tree of the British countryside. 

The elm was once a familiar majestic presence in fields and woodland but since the 1960s around 25 million have been killed by Dutch elm disease.

Many butterflies, moths, beetles, fungi, lichens and mosses that lived in elm trees have also suffered as their habitat has been lost. Up to 200 lichen species have been recorded growing on mature trees, some of which only grow on elms, and nearly 30 moth species live in elm trees.

The deadly fungus grows inside the tree trunk gradually choking the channels that transport water and nutrients around the tree. Once the disease appeared in the UK it quickly spread from tree to tree as the fungus is carried by a bark beetle.

Although the elm population was decimated, a few hundred trees at a variety of locations appear to have remained resistant to the disease over at least 60 years. It is from some of these mature healthy survivors that new saplings have been propagated. It is hoped that monitoring the growth of the new trees will shed light on why some trees are able to resist the fungal infection.

Schools covering an area from the North Highlands of Scotland to the southern tip of Cornwall will plant and care for their young elm trees, regularly recording their height, girth and biodiversity on the Conservation Foundation website. More saplings will be given out in the autumn.