A new community woodland is set to be created in Dinnington in a tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Over 7000 trees will be planted on former grazing land off Athorpe Road in a project supported by the South Yorkshire Woodland Partnership.
It is part of the Queens Green Canopy scheme and it will be named the Queen Elizabeth II Woodland. The scheme is designed to plant a million trees from March 2021 to March 2023 as a living tribute to the Queen.
This woodland will form part of Rotherham Council’s plans to meet a net zero carbon emissions by 2030. The Council aims to plant 10,000 trees each year for the next decade and beat last year’s target of 20,000.
Councillor David Sheppard, Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion at Rotherham Council, said: “Climate change is an important issue and as a council we are taking steps to respond to the climate emergency.
“The Queen Elizabeth II Community Woodland forms part of our efforts to create a greener and cleaner local environment for residents.
“There will be lots of opportunities for people to get involved in this exciting project, including a planting day, which is set to take place later this month.”
A community planting day will take place on Saturday 25 February from 10.30am to 3pm and gloves and spades will be provided.
The woodland has been designed to be community friendly and has designated sledging areas.
Matt North, Programme Manager at the South Yorkshire Woodland Partnership said: “We work with public and private landowners to develop and fund woodland creation that’s of benefit for people and wildlife.
“We really enjoyed working with council officers designing a woodland that will be a home for nature that the public can enjoy.
“It’s fantastic to see the local community being able to take part in helping create and care for this significant project in Dinnington.”
This woodland also forms part of the Northern Forest initiative which aims to plant 50 million new trees by 2043 from Liverpool to the Yorkshire Coast.
Alex Evans, South Yorkshire Woodland Senior Project Officer said: “The South Yorkshire Woodland Partnership are working within the Northern Forest, supporting the four South Yorkshire Local Authorities, the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and other partners with their current tree planting targets as part of their approach to tackling the Climate Emergency.
“As well as tacking carbon emissions, tree planting and woodland creation projects have a multitude of other benefits. This includes benefits to nature, improving and linking up habitats for wildlife as well as improvements to soils, air and water quality,”
Contact woodlandenquiries@wildsheffield.com to find out more about how you can be involved with woodland creation projects.
