Students plant 500 trees to create ‘woodland corridor’ at land-based North Wales college

STUDENTS planted 500 trees to create a ‘woodland corridor’ at a land-based college.

As part of Coleg Cambria’s award-winning sustainability programme – in partnership with the Woodland Trust – the copse at Northop includes a mixture of hawthorn, goat willow, downy birch and crab apple trees.

The Flintshire site was chosen so two existing areas of mature woodland could be united, allowing birds and wildlife to move easily between them and enhance the area’s biodiversity.

The trees arrived complete with recyclable canes and spirals for protection, and the half-acre of planting was overseen by Jenny Jones, the college’s Grounds Officer.

“We had a good day with the students, learning the finer points of tree planting,” said Jenny.

“The trees will benefit the wildlife and contribute towards a sustainable future in a number of different ways.”

The initiative is part of the Queen’s Green Canopy Project, which urges colleges, schools, businesses, and charities to plant trees to mark the Platinum Jubilee in 2022, when HRH Elizabeth II is set to become the first British Monarch to celebrate the landmark.

Dr Darren Moorcroft of the Woodland Trust said: “There is no more fitting way to celebrate Her Majesty’s Jubilee than through striving to increase and protect our native tree cover which, for centuries, has played such a central role in the life of the nation.”

The planting comes after Cambria was again awarded the prestigious Level Five Green Dragon Environmental Management Standard.

All its sites in Wrexham, Deeside, Llysfasi and Northop achieved the prestigious accreditation.

It is the highest level that can be reached via the Green Business Centre, a Cardiff-based environmental and quality auditing and training service that provides support to businesses and public organisations across the UK.

Rick Bedson, Head of Estates and Facilities at the college, said: “As a college we are developing the young people of the future and sustainability is an important part of that.”