A NEW trail of international expeditions to help conserve some of the world's rarest trees will be unveiled at Harcourt Arboretum.

The photo trail will be launched on Saturday at the arboretum in Nuneham Courtenay to take people on the trip across the other side of the pond and explain Oxfordshire's role in conserving types of rare tree from the USA.

Visitors can follow pictures which detail trips that staff such as Arborist Guy Horwood and Luke Rowland have been on to collect seeds and bring them back for conservation in the county.

Mr Horwood said: "It is a photo trail of an expedition I did two years ago across the west coast of America. We go to countries to collect seeds that are rare and endangered.

"It is a trail that leads visitors through the arboretum showing trees we collected whilst over there."

The expedition took a group of arborists from across the country over the West Coast of America in order to help protect many species from ever dying out.

Staff from Oxford Oxford University joined staff from the Millenium Seed Bank and US Forestry to bring back thousands of seeds to the UK.

Mr Horwood added: "It wasn’t just our department that went out there, it is an organised trip and these are the professional pictures that were taken along the way.

"The idea was always to do something about the trip not necessarily a photo trail but we knew the photos would be used in some way. "Now the trail is making its way round the country and we have it until around November."

The giant photo trail will be unveiled on Saturday for visitors to take a look around the arboretum and the important expeditions undertaken by staff.

Mr Horwood said: "It talks through the different places we collected seeds and the process. Its starts off with why we do what we do, then takes you through step by step the process.

"Even though we get to go to some really cool places like America and Japan and see amazing landscapes that’s not the actual reason for it all.

"It is all about work and conservation, the trail shows people a little bit more about places like the arboretum. It is not just a park full of trees, it has much more importance in regards to collecting seeds and conservation."