Thousands of trees are being planted in Aberdeen as part of a nation-wide initiative to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022.
The Queen’s Green Canopy was started to be being planted at the Fernielea open space beside Stronsay Drive yesterday and two local primary schools – Hazlehead and Countesswells – were assisted by the Lord-Lieutenant, City of Aberdeen, Barney Crockett along with Aberdeen City Council’s Countryside Rangers team.
The Queen’s Green Canopy is a unique tree planting initiative which invites people from across the United Kingdom to ‘Plant a Tree for the Jubilee’ to create a legacy in honour of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and Aberdeen has been selected as one of the initiative’s Champion Cities. The Champion City programme has been launched to celebrate some of the nation’s outstanding cities which have trees as a central part of their plans for green spaces.
The Lord-Lieutenant, who was also presented with a commemorative plaque to mark the occasion, said: “Being a Champion City is a great honour as we are one of only 20 cities across the whole of the UK to be awarded this.
“It is fantastic to see the enthusiasm of all these youngsters today and it’s great the first project as part of the city’s work for The Queen’s Green Canopy is planting 8,000 trees and shrubs in a green space in the community of Fernielea.
“We are delighted to be involved in this tree-planting initiative to help make our city a greener and more sustainable place to live, work, and visit.”
Everyone from individuals to Scout and Girl Guiding groups, villages, cities, communities, schools and corporates will be encouraged to play their part to enhance our environment by planting trees during the official planting season between October to March. Tree planting will start again in October 2022 through to the end of the Jubilee year.
In Aberdeen, there will be a programme of tree planting which includes:
- Launch of the initiative with the planting of 8,000 trees and shrubs at Fernielea green space;
- A total of 500 trees are being planted in city streets;
- Queen’s Green Canopy trees being made available to our schools, community groups and church groups for planting;
- Planting of a Queens Green Canopy tree in all the city’s formal parks;
- The Queen’s Green Canopy will be a headline theme in our Beautiful Scotland campaign for 2022;
- Clean Up Aberdeen to support Queen’s Green Canopy initiative through the clean-up of our woodlands;
- Queen’s Green Canopy programme aligned with the City Council’s Climate Plan and Spaces for Nature work;
- Launch of a tree nursery at Hazlehead to grow our own Queen’s Green Canopy trees;
- Further tree planting schemes planned in 2022/23.
Further information on The Queen’s Green Canopy is available at the The Queen’s Green Canopy webpage.