A public consultation starts today (July 30) into plans for 5,000 new trees to be planted in an Aberdeen community which will boost wildlife habitats and help tackle climate change.
The trees are to be planted this winter in Riverview Park at Dyce in a project led by Aberdeen City Council in partnership with the charity Future Woodlands Scotland and energy company bp.
The consultation includes an online survey at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Riverview_New_Woodland_Survey which finishes at 12midnight on Friday August 13.
There is also a drop-in consultation in the Riverview Park car park on Saturday August 7 from 2pm to 5pm with interactive maps and children will be able to have some fun making an animation featuring a favourite woodland animal.
The Lord Provost of Aberdeen Councillor Barney Crockett said: ‘Riverview Park is an important corridor for wildlife and is also a well-used greenspace, so we’d encourage people to help shape where the path is going to go through the trees.
‘We have a fantastic amount of award-winning formal parks and greenspaces in Aberdeen and Riverside Park is a lovely green area much enjoyed by residents of Dyce. Planting more trees now will be for the benefit of future generations.
“I’m delighted to see this initiative take shape which will also be part of Aberdeen City Council’s drive to reach net zero.”
The work, which is part of ACC’s Climate Change Plan which shows the proactive response to reduce target emissions through council buildings, mobility, transport, and council operations and includes target of net zero carbon emissions by 2045, is also aimed at allowing people to get closer to nature in their local area.
The tree planting will be supported by the Future Woodlands Fund, which was launched in March with £2m of support from bp and was set up to assist farmers and land managers across Scotland to plant new native woodlands.
bp has supported the regeneration of native woodlands in Scotland for more than 20 years. Giles Mackey, HSE and carbon manager at bp North Sea, said ‘Our work with Future Woodlands Scotland is a key part of our commitment to support natural climate solutions in Scotland. We are looking forward to seeing some new, native trees established right here on our doorstep in Dyce.”
Tim Hall, chair of Future Woodlands Scotland, said: “This is one of the first projects to be supported through our new Future Woodlands Fund and we are excited to be helping develop a new native woodland for the benefit of the local community. We hope that this will be the first of many schemes we support across Scotland.”
Later in the year, it is hoped to be able to organise community planting events.