This Saturday, 26 March, marks the start of the final planting project which will see us surpass our target of planting 5,000 trees across the city by 2026 by the end of April 2022, a whole four years early!
This exciting milestone feels all the more significant following the series of recent storms that have battered the region, uprooting or severely damaging over 500 trees across our green spaces.
But we couldn’t have got their alone. This achievement is the result of an extensive planting programme as well as a fantastic range of projects with some brilliant partners including;
Blossom Together
Last year saw the planting of a new area of blossom trees in Exhibition Park, created as part of the National Trust’s Blossom Together programme. Exhibition Park is one of the first sites outside London to take part in the project, and the space has been designed as a quiet place for reflection, peace and enjoyment within one of the city centres most popular parks.
Plant an Acre
As an alternative to Black Friday 2021, Traidcraft Exchange marked the day by planting 50 trees in our parks as part of Traidcraft Exchange’s Plant an Acre scheme. In total the initiative has raised more than £30,000 to plant 632 acres of fruit trees in coastal Tanzania for communities whose livelihoods are being devastated by extreme weather patterns.
Hay & Kilner
In 2021 Hay & Kilner Law Firm celebrated their 75th anniversary and were looking for a way to celebrate their roots by planting a long-term legacy in Newcastle’s parks. Working in partnership with their team we developed plans for the firm to fund the planting of 750 trees in parks and green spaces around the city over the next five years.
North East Community Forest
North East Community Forest is a 30 year, multi-million pound project that will see tens of thousands of trees planted and all-new woodland in the region. As part of this scheme our rangers and voluneers, in partnership with Newcastle City Council and Trees for Cities, have carried out extensive planting in Harbottle Park earlier this month. Through a second partnership with Newcastle City Council and the North East Community Forest, further planting in Havannah and Three Hills Nature Reserve starting this week will be the final project that takes the us over our 5,000 tree target.
Our lead ranger for woodland management, Mike Hancock, said: “Trees have a huge role in locking up carbon and helping combat climate change. In 2019 we set ourselves a challenging target to increase the number of trees across the city, and since then have been working hard to both improve the quality of our existing woodland, as well as plant new trees.
Our team have been working hard over the past two years to achieve this, but we never thought we would reach our ambition so quickly. We are so grateful to our partners who helped us not just reach our target but get there four whole years ahead of schedule. These new trees will not only help absorb carbon but will provide additional habitat for wildlife and new areas of woodland for people to enjoy.”
These brilliant projects demonstrate the wide variety of ways partners can work with us to breathe new life into our green spaces. If you or your business would like to speak to our team about a possible partnership, then you can get in touch at info@urbangreennewcastle.org
If you’re interested in getting involved and helping to maintain our green spaces, you can also sign up to become an Urban Green Volunteer today.