DEAR EDITOR: I write to concur with Gerald Potterton in his column ‘A Farmer Writes’ dated 3 February 2024. I, likewise, treated the announcement of the Native Tree Area Scheme (NTA) with great enthusiasm.

However, while the scheme is admirable, it is not exactly accessible, with its underlying tones of negativity, legal jargon, threats of penalty and more penalties.

Perhaps the forestry division of the Department of Agriculture would be better employed securing sufficient native seeds/seedlings to meet the demands of future tree planters, and in doing so could establish and stand over the provenance of our own native species.