Plans to plant 5,000 new trees in Dyce, led by Aberdeen City Council (ACC) in partnership with Future Woodlands Scotland and BP, are now open for public consultation.
The trees will be planted in winter in an area of Riverview Park with the aim of the project being to help create new greenspaces for wildlife and help tackle climate change as part of the ACC’s Climate Change Plan.
The consultation includes an online survey which runs until Friday, August 13. A drop-in consultation will also take place in the Riverview Park car park on Saturday, August 7 from 2pm to 5pm with interactive maps and children will be able to have fun making an animation featuring a favourite woodland animal.
The Lord Provost of Aberdeen, Barney Crockett, said: “Riverview Park is an important corridor for wildlife and is also a well-used greenspace, so we’d encourage people to help shape where the path is going to go through the trees.
“We have a fantastic amount of award-winning formal parks and greenspaces in Aberdeen and Riverside Park is a lovely green area much enjoyed by residents of Dyce. Planting more trees now will be for the benefit of future generations.
‘A new native woodland for the benefit of the local community’
“I’m delighted to see this initiative take shape which will also be part of Aberdeen City Council’s drive to reach net-zero.”
The tree planting will be supported by the Future Woodlands Fund, which was launched in March with £2million of support from BP and was set up to assist farmers and land managers across Scotland to plant new native woodlands.
Tim Hall, chair of Future Woodlands Scotland, said: “This is one of the first projects to be supported through our new Future Woodlands Fund and we are excited to be helping develop a new native woodland for the benefit of the local community. We hope that this will be the first of many schemes we support across Scotland.”
ACC’s Climate Change Plan details a proactive response to the dangers of climate change. The reduction in wasteful energy consumption through council buildings and operations as well as carbon emissions through mobility and transport are key objectives within the plans.
As well as these the council are hoping it helps bring people throughout the area closer to nature by providing greenspaces to immerse themselves in. The target is to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2045.