Salford based company, BAM, celebrate the 150,000th tree being planted with City of Trees in honour of the construction company’s 150th anniversary.
City of Trees and BAM plan to plant 500 trees in one day, on their journey to plant three million trees to represent each person in the region.
The community and environment orientated charity are on their way to planting 500,000 trees by March 2020.
With their offices based in Media City, the team venture out over Greater Manchester with groups of volunteers to plant trees over woodland areas.
The @Summerseat_mps have arrived at out #bam150 tree planting in #bury! Joining @BAMConstructUK, @BAMNuttall @BAMGroup_EU to plant last of 150,000 trees! @BuryTimes @MENBusinessDesk @BBCNWT @TheBoltonNews pic.twitter.com/2MZkfqHJPl
— Mark Slattery @ BAM (@MarkatBAM) December 10, 2019
Beth Kelsall is Delivery Coordinator at City of Trees and leads many of the planting activities, including the recent planting activity at Boz Park, Bury.
Beth said: “We’re planting five hundred trees today, we’re here until around 3’oclock.
“We want to hit our half million mark by March, which is the end of the planting season.
“We started about five years ago, so we have that history to get us up to the half million, and then the three million target is within a generation, so about 25 years but we’ve done half a million already in five years, we’re way ahead of target to hit that.”
City of Trees were not alone in their planting quest and are often joined by many volunteers, including BAM; a Salford based construction company, creating and maintaining buildings.
Mark Slattery, press and PR Manager of BAM Construct UK, got involved with the tree planting activity and expressed the importance of partnering together to help the community and environment.
Mark said: “We searched all over the UK to find people who knew what they were doing, City of Trees are a local charity.
“It will give the area that special touch, people need something that looks good and feels good in their local area – beyond just having shops and places to park your car.
“We’re creating something special for the next generation, they’ll be able to walk around and think what a lovely place.”
Deforestation has greatly impacted the world that we live in today. According to National Geographic, around 2,000 years ago, 80% of Western Europe was forested; today that figure is 34%. Loss of trees, often leaves soil more prone to erosion which causes remaining plants to become more vulnerable to fire as it is an open, dry environment.
The mass number of trees planted wouldn’t be possible without the thousands of volunteers that City of Trees gather in every year.
Beth said: “We’re expecting over 30 people today from BAM construction and then on the site so far, we had over 100 people here a few Saturdays ago.
“We’re involving the local school kids; we get thousands of volunteers a year.”
Sarah works for City of Trees and is part of the charities journey to plant 3 million trees. Sarah said: “I’ve always been passionate about the environment, conservation and wildlife.
“My favourite thing is being able to get out and plant trees, make a tangible difference and being able to chat to people and inspire them to plant trees for future generations.”
Ian Flemming is the Regional Director of BAM Construct and appreciates the importance of their partnership with City of Trees, in the fact that they are helping the environment and community.
Ian said: “It’s important we appreciate the need to do something for the planet.
“The company is being very responsible in planting 150,000 trees, if every company in the country did this it would be fantastic.
“City of Trees is the type of organisation that can bring people out of their houses to do this, because I think people would do this if there was an organisation top help them.
“We’re at the end of the journey, all through the last year we’ve planted 100,000 trees in Uganda and Bolivia, we’re planting 50,000 all across Europe of which these are the last 500.”
Image Credit: Phoebe Walters
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