A protocol was needed that would enable assessment of a site for its veteran tree interest, primarily in terms of the size and quality of the veteran tree population per se rather than solely in terms of the associated species these trees support. Such a protocol would enable the subsequent development of guidelines for the selection of SSSIs specifically for their veteran tree interest.
Initial ideas for an assessment method were put together by the inter-agency Woodland Lead Co-ordination Network for the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). The initial guidelines were then trialled in the field, across a range of sites, to see whether the approach could be used successfully to distinguish sites of different values.