By Eoin Ryan
The Elder project led by Trim Tidy Towns Aims to plant over 10,000 trees and shrubs in Trim and the local area, one for every member of the population over the next 10 years.
It is inspired by the ForestaMi project in Milan which is attempting to plant 3 million trees by 2030 with over 280,000 planted so far.
Councillor Ronan Moore explained in a Facebook post that In Trim, “we called it the Elder project because the Irish for our town is Baile Átha Troim, which means ‘town on the ford of the elderflowers.”
The most recent Census this year has shown that the population of Trim has grown to over 10,000 people. This project is expected to plant one tree for every resident in the town over the next 8 years.
“We will be welcoming residential estates that would like to take part, which will also help reduce their mowing costs while increasing biodiversity as well as home-owners who are interested in planting appropriate trees and shrubs to contact us,” Ronan Moore said.
This is a project that is incorporated in the town’s Local Biodiversity Action Plan 2022 – 2025 in partnership with Flynn Furney Environmental.
Plant species native or near native to Ireland as they will be more suitable for natural pollinators in the local area.
Trim Tidy Towns plan to involve local schools in the planting phase during the autumn season when watering is not needed.
They hope this will be funded by local councils, Trim Tidy Towns own funds and possible community crowdfunding to pay for saplings and young trees.
Meath South East News 