‘Crainn – Inné, Inniu, Amárach’
‘Trees – Our Past, Our Present, Our Future’

 

About National Tree Week 2012

National Tree Week is an annual, week-long festival celebrating all positive aspects of trees in our lives and environment.  It is organised by the Tree Council of Ireland.
National Tree Week takes place from 4-10 March 2012.  The theme is ‘Trees – Our Past, Our Present, Our Future’.  During National Tree Week, as well as prompting people to plant more trees, we are asking people to celebrate our remarkable heritage of trees and woodlands and to recognise the significance of trees and forests as a living link to our past, as an enjoyable, life-enhancing asset in the present, and as a wise investment in our future.   
National Tree Week is an opportune chance for Tree Council member organisations, local authorities, tidy towns and community groups, schools, families and many others all over Ireland to do something positive for their local landscape.  By setting up events for National Tree Week within your community or organisation, you can inspire people, young and old, to get out into the fresh air and together plant thousands of trees.  It is great fun too - even on a wet blustery day, the thrill of going out and getting your hands dirty, something many of us don't do often enough, is really rewarding and satisfying whether you are planting one tree or a hundred. 
One of the main projects of National Tree Week 2012 is the distribution of over 15,000 trees, sponsored by Coillte, and distributed by local authorities throughout the country to local community groups and schools for planting during and around National Tree Week.  If your school or community group would like to receive some of these trees for planting during National Tree Week, contact your local County or City Council.

How To Get Involved

To be part of National Tree Week, the Tree Council of Ireland invites you to organise one or more events for the week to celebrate trees. As well as tree planting ceremonies, the range of events can include forest and woodland walks, nature trails, workshops, woodturning displays, talks, tree hugging, tree climbing, broadcasts, launches, poetry readings, exhibitions, dramas, competitions and tree plantathons where communities are challenged to plant a target number of trees on a designated local site over a fixed time period. Don't forget to register your event, so that other people can come and join you!

Register your event here.

 

Advertise Your Event

You can also advertise your own event by downloading the National Tree Week poster for 2012. Write in the time, place and a contact number, and put it up on local notice boards.  Download Tree Council of Ireland National Tree Week Poster.pdf. (Available to download early February 2012) If you would like to receive hard copies of the poster in A2 size, please send your request by e-mail to trees@treecouncil.ie

 

What can you do to celebrate National Tree Week?

• Check out the National Tree Week events programme and take part in an event near you.
• Celebrate National Tree Week in your school by planting a tree or in the classroom by drawing pictures or making leaf prints or bark rubbings of trees, read or write poems or stories about trees, learn how to measure the height and spread of a tree, produce a class drama about trees.
• Encourage your local residents association, tidy towns group, youth club, sports club or other local organisation to get their members involved in a tree planting or tree maintenance project (eg. clean-up a local woodland) in your area.
• Volunteer in a local community tree-planting event. You’ll meet new people and make a difference in your community.
• Organise a walk or trail to showcase and tell the stores of any large, unusual or historic trees in your community.
• Commemorate an event of significance in your community by planting a tree and organise a community celebration or get together to mark the occasion. 
• Celebrate the week in a personal way by planting a tree yourself in your own garden.
• Take some time to read a book about trees or find our more about their characteristics, their uses, folklore etc. Learn to identify trees in your neighbourhood.
• Enjoy the outdoors. Visit a local forest or park or take a nature walk and enjoy observing and being in the company of trees.
• Those in the business community could sponsor a community tree project.

Sponsors

Coillte

Coillte is a commercial company operating in forestry, land based businesses, renewable energy and panel products.  We are the largest forestry company in Ireland and own 1 million acres of land, approximately 7% of the land of Ireland. Coillte manages 10 Forest Parks and over 150 recreation sites throughout Ireland.  Coillte is committed to enriching lives locally, nationally and globally through innovative and sustainable management of natural resources.  National Tree Week is a tangible demonstration of us living our values of partnership and community and making a positive contribution to the environment.  We have been involved in National Tree Week for 23 years, supplying over 300,000 trees to community groups, schools and clubs nationwide, for tree planting events during and around National Tree Week.  Coillte looks forward to this celebration of the ‘Trees – Our Past, Our Present, Our Future’ and wishes the Tree Council of Ireland continued success with National Tree Week.

 

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Funded under the National Development Plan 2007-2013

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine includes the Forest Service which is responsible for ensuring the development of forestry within Ireland.  Welcoming this year’s National Tree Week, Mr. Shane McEntee, TD, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with responsibility for forestry, said, “The Tree Council of Ireland has aptly set out the theme of this year’s National Tree Week as ‘Trees – our past, our present, our future’. The many events planned for the week will highlight the importance of trees and forestry in our history and heritage, demonstrate their value today in commercial, environmental and social terms and assist, through a series of planting events nationwide, towards the preservation of that heritage and benefits for future generations. As the Minister of State with responsibility for forestry, I am pleased that my Department has been in a position to support National Tree Week 2012 and I will continue to work to promote the development of forestry, both for the economic and social benefits it brings to the community and to ensure that future generations will continue to enjoy its many benefits”.

 

Garden Centre Promotions During Tree Week 2012

This year, the Tree Council of Ireland in conjunction with Bord Bia is especially encouraging garden centres and nurseries throughout the country to take the opportunity of National Tree Week to organise a special event or promotion to inspire people to buy and to plant trees.  There is a tree suitable for every site and growing situation.  Watch out for tree advice clinics or special discounts on trees during Tree Week in a garden centre or nursery near you or check out the Events Programme for details of garden centres that are participating in a Tree Week promotion. 
Trees that are commonly stocked by garden centres include native trees such as Betula pendula (silver birch), Sorbus aucuparia (rowan), Taxus baccata (yew), Ilex aquifolium (holly), Arbutus unedo (strawberry tree) and our national tree, the sessile oak Quercus petraea.  There range of ornamental trees is very diverse and may include large specimen trees such as Castanea sativa, or flowering trees that are suitable for smaller gardens like Amelanchier lamarckii and Prunus padus ‘Watereri’ along with cultivars of ornamental crab apple such as Malus ‘Golden Hornet’, Royalty’ or ‘Evereste’ which also produce a bonus of colourful fruits in the autumn.   

 

Register an Event

To register your event for National Tree Week 2012, please click here and we will be delighted to include it in our programme. 

 

Programme of Events

List of Events here.

 

 

 

  

Copyright © 2012 Tree Council of Ireland