Young and old turned out in force to plant 700 trees in a new community woodland created as part of a Welsh Assembly Government initiative to raise a Welsh National Forest by planting a tree for every new baby and adopted child in Wales.
The people of Tywyn were joined by teenager Nathan Sutcliffe, one of the Assembly’s six Climate Change Champions appointed to spread the word about how people can take steps to reduce their carbon footprints.
Nathan, 16, attended the Plant! community planting day at Coed Ysgubor Wen as part of his aim to help plant at least 100,000 trees during his year as a Champion.
The day was organised to raise awareness of the Plant! project, which is being delivered on the Assembly’s behalf by Forestry Commission Wales and the Woodland Trust. The project aims to also explain the importance of planting trees and their role in tackling climate change.
There are two other Plant! woodlands – at Cefn Ila woods near Usk and at Coed Bryn Oer in Tredegar, south Wales – and the aim is to plant 38,000 trees at Coed Ysgubor Wen to create a new woodland by the end of this year.
Nathan said, “I’ve always had an interest in trees and I’m using this as the focus for my work as a Climate Change Champion. I’m hoping that my role as a Champion will help to fulfil my target of helping plant 100,000 trees and will preserve Wales’s native woodlands.”
