Hackney,
20
January
2020
|
16:47
Europe/London

Local volunteers sought to help plant edible woodland on 1 February

Hackney Council, Trees for Cities, and the Tree Musketeers are inviting volunteers to help plant Hackney Marshes’ new 6,500 tree edible woodland on Saturday 1 February.

The new woodland, set to be planted in the area surrounding football pitches on East Marsh, will see a mix of fruit and nut trees, broadleaf specimens and shrubs introduced to capture the carbon dioxide heating the planet, promote biodiversity, and encourage the local community to learn more about foraging.

Volunteers will help plant thousands of young trees, with tools provided and all ages and abilities welcome.

The trees are being funded by Honest Organic through Trees for Cities, which works with volunteers, schools and local communities to enhance green spaces in urban neighbourhoods, with land provided by Hackney Council.

We are proud to be working with Hackney Council and Honest Organic on this fantastic project. By planting trees, we celebrate something we all love and cherish. Something that brings communities together and actively works to promote healthy living and eating, as well as addressing pollution and the stresses of city lifestyles."
Rory Field, Corporate Partnerships Director at Trees for Cities
Cllr Jon Burke, Cabinet Member for Energy, Waste, Transport and Public Realm
Since we declared a Climate Emergency, committing us to almost halving our emissions by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2040, we’ve been doing everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint across the Council’s full range of services. Nowhere is that clearer than in our recent announcement that we’re delivering the largest urban street tree and mature parks tree planting programme in the country, increasing tree canopy cover on-street by 50 per cent in just two years. In December 2019, we followed this up through our commitment to planting tens of thousands more trees in parks and green spaces by 2022. 

This commitment to deliver a minimum of 36,000 new trees in Hackney by 2022 is hugely ambitious, but we can’t do it alone. That’s why, while we’re working in partnership with Trees for Cities and the Tree Musketeers, whose committed volunteers will be on-hand to help, we’re inviting people in Hackney to join in and plant the new woodland. If you have an urge to do something practical to address the climate crisis and make Hackney greener, please sign-up to help plant our new edible woodland at Hackney Marshes.
Cllr Jon Burke, Cabinet Member for Energy, Waste, Transport and Public Realm

To find out more and sign-up, visit the Trees for Cities website: https://www.treesforcities.org/get-involved/volunteer