Big Tree Plant hits 100,000 milestone in first season
14 April 2011
The Big Tree Plant campaign has reached the landmark of 100,000 planted trees this week and to mark the occasion Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman went tree planting in Solihull, Birmingham.
The Big Tree Plant was launched in December 2010 and brings together a number of organisations with the aim of planting one million trees in urban and residential areas over the next four years.
Mrs Spelman said:
“Hitting the 100,000 mark is a fantastic achievement and shows how much people care about enhancing our urban green spaces.
“The number of trees in urban and semi-urban areas has dropped over recent years, so the point of this campaign is to reverse that trend so that we can all gain from the benefits that trees provide in our towns and cities.”
The Big Tree Plant campaign brings together civil society partners and conservation organisations, such as The Tree Council, Woodland Trust, Trees for Cities, England’s Community Forests, Keep Britain Tidy and others, working with Defra and the Forestry Commission. The campaign is supported by grant funding of £1 million per year for the next four years and will get more people in local communities planting and caring for trees.
Phil Barton chief executive Keep Britain Tidy said:
"We are thrilled to be involved with the Big Tree Plant. We are delighted to be able to involve hundreds of schools and communities and thousands of young people from across England working closely with our partners, BTCV and ourselves to create green and sustainable communities."
BTCV Chief Executive Tom Flood CBE said:
“BTCV believes in positive, practical action to tackle climate change. Trees are vital to our survival and the survival of our planet - they oxygenate the air we breathe and take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. We have a duty to protect them and encourage their growth and BTCV is delighted to be involved in this exciting campaign and with our achievements at planting and distributing over 100,000 trees to date."
Find out more about The Big Tree Plant