Planting spree sees 100 new trees for ballyjamesduff

Damian McCarney

Ballyjamesduff enjoyed an injection of greenery last weekend as the local Tidy Towners enlisted the help of an Irish Wildlife Trust expert to plant 100 trees. Mature trees have been added to the existing foliage along all the approach roads to the town, while the lime trees lining Main Street will hopefully get a new lease of life, thanks to the expertise of Irish Wildlife Trust volunteer, Barry Kavanagh.
These new varieties are intended to compliment the fifty oak trees the Tidy Towners had previously planted in the town.
Heading up the ecological initiative is Susie Willis, chairperson of Ballyjamesduff Tidy Towns. She explained that the fact that the planting drive occurred as National Tree Week shed its final leaf, was a happy coincidence.
“We’ve been consulting with Barry since September, and he did an overall plan for the town. We had 100 trees to plant on Sunday and some hedging for various areas.
“During National Tree Week you generally plant saplings, but some of these are 15 years old already - they are quite big so they should really enhance the town - you will see the impact immediately.”
Hard workers from the Solas scheme generously helped to prepare the land for the tree planting, and funding of €3,000 - which is typically the amount they receive from the local Blotto - covered the cost of the trees.
Asked what type of trees were planted, Susie defers to Barry’s expertise.
“I looked at the delivery ticket and the names were all in Latin,” Susie says with a laugh.
Barry explains: “Eighty per cent of the trees planted are indigenous - birch, alder, oak - and some which are long established in the country.”
Barry has drawn up a plan for the town to “recreate living landscapes” where places lacking biodiversity are targeted for a burst of greenery.
“That’s why we use a lot of native planting,” says the award winning garden designer, “to encourage wildlife to freely move through the towns and villages. The aesthetics of the town or village will be greatly enhanced by planting a lot of climbers on walls - an awful lot of walls in towns can be quite ugly - we’ll disguise those with the right planting.
“We are also planting trees which globally are under threat, like the giant redwood. So there’s an element of global conservation as well as just planting to enhance local biodiversity,” enthused Barry.
If you are wondering just how giant a giant redwood is, it’s the world’s largest tree and there is one example in California known locally as General Sherman, which measures a whopping 84 metre in height and 11 metres in diameter.
In California they are coming under threat from climate change and an awful lot of forest fires. When I work with communities I ensure it is a conservation project. If we plant some redwoods here, it will protect them longterm if they become extinct in California.”
He uses his expertise to ensure that trees are located where they will thrive and encourage biodiversity.
“Working with Barry has educated us in what is good for the biodiversity, and what works best for the soil in the area,” says Susie.
“That was something we were working in the dark on - you really need this expert advice, just to make sure you are doing the thing right.”
In assessing the town’s needs, Barry noticed that the lime trees on Main Street have been somewhat neglected. “In all honesty they aren’t thriving as well as they should,” accepts Susie.
“They are sad looking, but we can revive them,” Barry assures.
“Those trees haven’t been fed or pruned in a long-long time, and they’re struggling. It’s no one’s fault really because people don’t know what to do with trees after they are planted half the time. Unfortunately in towns they can get a bit neglected, or are very badly pruned. But we are going to show the people how to prune the trees properly and how to feed them to help bring the trees on again.”
Barry, who has helped out in similar successful projects in Maghera and Carnaross, echoes Susie’s sentiments on how mature trees guarantee an instant positive impact on the town: “People can see the value of what has been done.”
He’s not exaggerating. The tree planting project was a key component in Maghera’s Tidy Towners lifting the Endeavour Award having increased their points tally by an astounding 47 points. Barry correctly notes that this is, “practically unheard of”.
Last year Ballyjamesduff excelled in completing the Get Involved project in which they radically overhauled a riverbank area of the town, transforming it from an eyesore to a beauty spot. In a similar sense, this tree planting project sees the Bally’duff Tidy Towners take a proactive rather than reactive approach to their work.
“Our feeling is, while the group is small, when they see the impact of what happened on Sunday, I think it might draw more of a focus to what we do. For a number of years we were just litter wardens - we were out a couple of nights a week picking up litter and cleaning up the streets, so people don’t see any improvement in their area; while it’s clean they don’t see the big impact of what we’ve done. So this should create much more awareness of Tidy Towns.”
Sunday was only phase one of the long term planting project.
“Phase two will be planting the wildflower meadow,” explains Susie, “which should take place in about two or three weeks. We’re getting the ground ready for that. He [Barry] has a very exciting plan for it, so hopefully we will be able to see it through. It will evolve over a couple years, it won’t all be done this year.”