Urban Forestry

PROMOTION

Every effort was made to publicise the Projects across Edinburgh, and to promote the developing urban forest in its national context as part of the Millennium Forest. Leaflets and posters were designed and circulated, and press releases distributed before tree planting events. This ensured that the public was made aware of where and when events were occurring, but also raised the profile of the Projects, highlighting the positive results achieved.
	To further increase publicity a series of high profile events were held. Many of these events were arranged to coincide with National events, such as National Tree Week and Millennium Forest Week. Some of these special events are described next in the report. In addition to the events organised by the project, the Urban Forest Officers also publicised the project at events occurring in and around Edinburgh, such as the Royal Highland Show, Scottish Countryside Fair and the Spring Fling held at Hermitage of Braids.
Special events The Launch of the Millennium Forest In 1995 the first symbolic tree of the Millennium Forest for Scotland was planted in Craigmillar. The Scottish Secretary of State, Right Hon. Michael Forsyth visited Castlebrae High School and planted a 12ft tall Scots Pine in the school grounds.
	Garden Tree Scheme The successful 'Great Tree Give-away' was held during National Tree Week in 1996. This scheme provided trees and expertise to local residents and groups allowing them to plant native trees in their gardens, schools and community centres throughout the Craigmillar area. This event allowed local people to participate in the creation of the Millennium Forest who might not otherwise have had the opportunity to do so.
The Edinburgh Plantathon In October 1997 an attempt was made at Craigmillar Castle Hill to break the world tree-planting record by volunteers. This was an exciting event organised to raise the profile of the Project and to get people from in and around Edinburgh actively involved with creating their own community woodland. As well as tree planting, there was also a tented village where all the volunteers could watch community artists and musicians and try out a range of traditional skills and crafts, from building bird and bat boxes to making an American teepee.
	Particular emphasis was put on getting children involved with the Plantathon event, and the schools in Edinburgh were invited to send pupils along. To assist their participation a fleet of buses was organised to ferry school children from in and around Edinburgh to the planting site. Adult supervisors from local conservation organisations, with experience of tree planting, were on site to assist the school children, their teachers and parents with the tree planting. Over the three days some 2332 volunteers came along and helped plant trees, and at the final count a staggering 39,650 trees were planted.
Launch of Millennium Forest Week In May 2000 the launch of Millennium Forest Week was held at Greendykes Primary School. Sarah Boyak MSP and Barbara Kelly (Convenor of the Millennium Forest) attended the event and spoke to the children of the importance of trees and woodlands for the environment, wildlife and for people to enjoy. They then helped the enthusiastic pupils to survey the trees that they had planted in their school grounds three years ago. They examined the height, girth and health of the trees and were able to demonstrate how well the trees had grown.
	Urban Forest Seminar An Urban Forestry seminar was held in Edinburgh in September 2000. The event was organised by the Urban Forest team to raise the profile of the urban forest in Edinburgh and to share the lessons that had been learnt over the past five years. In the morning various speakers from the City of Edinburgh Council, the Scottish Greenbelt Company and Forest Research discussed the importance of urban forestry with particular reference made to Edinburgh. Emphasis was placed on the practical achievements and difficulties of urban forestry, its value and the need to look after new community woodlands after the initial investment. In the afternoon the delegates were taken on a tour of some of the urban forest sites in Edinburgh. Woodlands were visited which illustrated the range of sites, techniques used and the success of the planting.
Burdiehouse Burn Tree Planting Record Attempt During Tree Week in 2000 the Tree Council co-ordinated an exciting attempt to create a new world record for the number of trees planted over a three day period. One of the sites, Burdiehouse Burn, was part of the Edinburgh Urban Forest Project. Pupils from schools throughout Edinburgh came along and helped with the tree planting, and were helped by volunteers from Scottish Wildlife Trust, British Trust for Conservation Volunteers and the Better Burdiehouse Burn Group. Members from the Edinburgh University 'Dirty Weekenders' and Lothian Conservation Volunteer groups also lent a hand. In the end a total of nearly five thousand trees were planted at Burdiehouse Burn, and across the United Kingdom the fantastic grand total of over 100,000 were trees planted.
	Poster Competition A poster competition sponsored by Standard Life was run for schools across Edinburgh in November 2000. The children were asked create a poster based on the National Tree Week theme of 'Neighbourhood Trees'. It was hoped that the children would spend some time thinking about the trees around them and what they meant to them. It was intended that the competition would encourage discussion about trees and their importance within our lives and provide an incentive to look after the trees of Edinburgh. There was an excellent response to the competition with over three hundred imaginative posters entered. A prize giving ceremony was held in Edinburgh City Chambers during Tree Week, where the winners received their prizes from representatives from Standard Life and the Project. The winning posters have been subsequently used in the design of Edinburgh Urban Forest leaflet.
Final Tree Planting Event To mark the end of the Projects and to celebrate their success a coppice of 100 native Scottish trees were planted in Princes Street Gardens. Representatives from schools, community groups and conservation organisations, along with Sam Galbraith the current Minister of the Environment, were invited to the special tree planting ceremony. The Minister also unveiled a stone cairn with a commemorative plaque.