The 100,000thtree in a new ‘urban forest’ has been planted in Cardiff, just four years after the first one.
The oak tree was planted in Greenway Park in Rumney as part of Cardiff Council’s Coed Caerdydd (Cardiff Forest) project.
The project was established by the Council in 2021 as part of its One Planet Cardiff response to the climate emergency with the aim of increasing tree canopy coverage in the city from a starting point of 18.9% to 25%.
Now into its fourth planting season the project has seen council staff working alongside an army of community volunteers to plant an area the size of more than 25 Principality Stadium pitches with native trees including Alder, Rowan, Oak, Hawthorn alongside the creation of new orchards and hedgerows.
Cabinet Member for Culture, Parks and Events, Cllr Jennifer Burke, said: “Planting 100,000 new trees in just four years is a remarkable achievement. As they grow and start to do all the incredible things that trees do – clean the air, help mitigate flooding, keep people cool in summer, provide habitats for wildlife and simply make Cardiff a greener more pleasant place to live – they will also make a significant contribution towards our vision for a carbon neutral Cardiff.
“A huge thank you has to go to all the volunteers who have helped us achieve so much in such a short period of time, whether that’s by getting their hands dirty with planting or helping us care for the trees – it simply wouldn’t have been possible without their work.”
New trees have been planted in every corner in the city, in parks and green spaces, streets and in school grounds, as well as on land owned by other public sector organisations and private landowners. Trees are specially selected to suit each individual sites and range in size from small saplings to larger “heavy standard” trees.
To ensure as many trees survive as possible, once planted the Coed Caerdydd team aim to check on all trees several times in their first few years. These checks are supplemented by a network of volunteer ‘Tree Guardians’ who help water and care for the trees. In the longer-term all trees will be maintained by the Council, in line with standard maintenance schedules.
“The aim is to have planted around 110,000 trees by the end of this planting season,” said Cllr Burke, “so there’s plenty of work still to be done over the coming weeks. I know from experience that volunteering with the project is great fun as well as being really rewarding and I’d encourage as many people as possible to get involved and join us at a community tree planting session.”
Coed Caerdydd in numbers:
- Number of trees planted – 100,000
- Number of street trees planted – 400
- Number of fruit trees planted – 1,250
- Number of kilometres of hedgerow planted – 3.5
- Number of different species planted – 30
- Number of different locations/sites – 300
- Number of volunteers – 7,000
- Number of volunteer hours – 14,000
Full details of forthcoming planting sessions are available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/coed-caerdydd-46791623513
