Rotary branches out to help River Trust Volunteers surprised group with their tree-planting speed! writes Peter Vermeulen
Aboyne & Upper Deeside Rotary were very happy to help the River Dee Trust to plant trees at the side of the river earlier this year. Rotary approached the River Trust to determine whether we could help each other and it so happened that a landowner had 1,200 trees which needed planting at the side of the River Dee just outside Aboyne on the Glendinnie Fishing Beat. The Rotary volunteers surprised the River Trust management since we had anticipated planting 400-500 trees through the day, however 12 Rotarian volunteers and two supervisors from the River Trust managed to plant 1,200 trees in March, followed by another 1,150 in May. Obviously after the bad storms this past winter which brought down so many trees, it is imperative that all our communities do whatever we can to help. Planting trees was already a huge topic before these storms, so we are replacing trees, and ultimately we hope to plant more trees than were destroyed to help improve our climate. The trees which we planted will in the
years to come help carbon storage and produce oxygen in the process, but these trees will also help to shade the River Dee, which will keep the water cooler which in turn will help the salmon. By increasing salmon numbers we also help our local economy to maintain fishing tourism Finally, the ‘crowning glory’ of our tree planting is that it is helping the Queen’s Green Canopy reach its goal of planting as many trees as possible in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year! Going forward, Aboyne & Upper Deeside Rotary Club are reaching out to other opportunities in the Upper Dee area to plant more trees when possible, and we hope to work alongside the schools in our area to get our younger people involved with planting trees. If you are aware of any opportunities for planting trees then please contact Aboyne & Upper Deeeside Rotary club at secretary@aboyne.rotary1010.org If you would like to know more about Rotary in the Aboyne & Upper Deeside area then again please contact secretary@aboyne.rotary1010.org
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