Trees for Votes Off to Great Start!
Wednesday 05-04-2023 - 13:25
This academic year, VP Union Development Callum Slater, has been delighted to launch our new Trees for Votes initiative in Students’ Union elections. Working with Green Lancaster, a joint partnership between the Students’ Union and University, the SU committed to making a financial contribution towards the planting of trees to support the ecological restoration of University land.
The project launched during the Michaelmas elections for JCR Executives in November and an impressive turnout of 1,772 voters resulted in the SU purchasing over 170 trees to be planted at the Forrest Hills site just a short walk away from main campus. On the last day of Lent term (Friday 24th March); SU staff, JCR Officers and Green Lancaster volunteers came together to put trees in the ground and they smashed through the work planting an estimated 100 trees in the open ground and a further 125 trees planted to form a new hedgerow. Over time, the site planted will become a new, more accessible outdoor learning environment for Green Lancaster. A mixture of birch, oak, bird cherry, rowan, hazel, willow, elder and hawthorn was planted across the site.
Trees for Votes will contribute to Green Lancaster’s broader ECOWoods initiative which aims to reinstate natural processes, improve biodiversity, reconnect fragmented habitats, sequestrate and store carbon, as well as create opportunities for nature-based recreation, connection and wellbeing.
Darren Axe, Green Lancaster Manager, said that
“The site is looking fantastic. When we come back after Easter, the site will be transformed in new leaf growth and looking all the better following the good work done by the elections team and Green Lancaster volunteers!”
Callum Slater, VP Union Development, said that
“Trees for votes is a perfect example of how we can connect the work that we do across the Students’ Union to achieve even greater things. Over 100 additional trees have just been committed in this year’s Lent term elections and I look forward to seeing how the project develops in the future”.
You can read more about Green Lancaster and find out how to get involved on their site here.
