Planting for our future

“On Wednesday we went to Dartmoor where we planted trees with Emily and got really wet and very muddy. It made me very happy and excited.”

As part of National Tree Planting week young volunteers from Plymouth, Ivybridge and Tavistock were busy planting trees around Ivybridge! Young people from the Momentum Project at Tavistock Youth Café and students from the Life Skills department at City College Plymouth planted 220 whips to create a hedgerow of native English trees in Filham Park. Sixth form students from Mill Ford School planted 220 tree whips - a mixture of English native species, including hazel, rowan, hawthorn, sliver birch trees in Woodland Park, and young adults from Dame Hannahs planted 25 native yew trees along Western Road, alongside members of the local community. Despite some very wet weather, everyone absolutely loved having the opportunity to plant trees which will benefit future generations, and which they can easily re-visit and watch grow! Many thanks to everyone who volunteered - it’s great to see so many people wanting to get involved and to be outdoors again.

This was a partnership project between the Generation Green Project at Dartmoor National Park, which is working to provide opportunities for young people to access Dartmoor and get involved in environmental volunteering via taster days and their Junior and Youth Ranger programme, and Parklife South West CIC, a Community Interest Company not-for-profit organisation that helps to connect local communities with the environment. These projects are part of a wider initiative in Ivybridge that will see more than 2500 trees planted this winter. If you would like to find out about youth volunteering opportunities across Dartmoor please contact Emily, Youth Engagement Ranger, at e.cannon@dartmoor.gov.uk, or to get involved in Parklife South West CIC Projects please contact Andrew Price at parklifesw@gmail.com or Facebook: ParkLife SW.