National Tree Week 2003
Although 'National Tree Week' is officially from 26 November to 7 December, Roe Valley Country Park near Limavady has been encouraging children from the beginning of the school year to collect the seeds of our native trees. Species such as oak, ash, cherry, hawthorn and blackthorn.
Schools, like St Eithne's Primary School in Londonderry, have been asked to plant these seeds in the hope that the children will grow their own trees to enhance their own area.
Pupils from P6 St Eithne's Primary School in Londonderry, with parents and their teacher Ms McCusker, shout 'forest' not 'cheese' as they show off their seedsFintan Hargan is a P6 pupil from St Eithne's Primary School Hazelbank in Londonderry. Fintan talked about what he was going to do with his tree seed ....
“ I am going to use a used yoghurt carton to plant the seeds I collected at the park. I will leave this outside until next spring. We will have a long wait as Mr Conway told us we would all be grandparents when our trees were fully grown. I hope my tree grows well as Ireland is very short of trees”.
Michael Conway is the DOE's Environmental Educator at the Roe Valley Country Park. He explained to the P6 pupils how 80% of the Irish landscape was covered by trees at one time. Since the arrival of the first farmers 6,000 years ago, exploitation by people has reduced this to a paltry 1% of our landscape covered by native deciduous trees. Michael was encouraged by Fintan's enthusiasm and pointed out that adults can get involved too....
“ Anyone can do what the school children have done and make tree week a success. Collect your seeds. Use any plastic carton. Put a few holes in the bottom with a fork. Cover the seed with soil and leave it outside in a safe place. Some seeds will germinate next spring others take a couple of years. The little trees can be kept in a plant pot for two or three years until they are big enough to plant out. This is all very easy to do but will make a huge contribution to our environment.”
Useful web links
- Distinctive landmarks, spiritually uplifting, epitomising home ... people talk about what trees mean to them in 'A Sense of Place on radio'
- Read about the history of Portglenone Forest.
- Find out more about the 'haunted tree' in Finnis, Co Down.
- View beautiful photographs of trees in our Picture Gallery. Take a particular look at 'Autumn Leaves' by Colin Cotter, 'Light and Bark' by M. Johnston and 'Trees' by Pascal Diamond.
- Visit the BBC's Gardeners' Corner website and learn about Terrific Trees.
- For details of other events being held at DOE Environment and Heritage Service centres - click on www.ehsni.gov.uk/eve....
- For more information about National Tree Week visit The Tree Council's ....
(The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites)
Have you a tree that is special to you? Tell us about your local wood or forest. Do you know any stories or folklore about trees in your area? Share your comments and information here on A Sense of Place by either clicking on 'Discuss this Article' at the bottom of the page or by e-mailing communities-ni@bbc.....
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