Ribble Rivers Trust and the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside put out an appeal last December for members of the public to donate their old Christmas trees.
Throughout January the Wildlife Trust, with the help of volunteers, members of the community and schools, hosted their ‘Annual Tree Planting Event’. All the donated trees have been buried in front of existing sand dunes in St Annes as part of the Fylde Sand Dunes Project. The trees are put in place to preserve the sand dunes and to act as a soft sea defence against flooding and coastal erosion. Over 2000 trees were donated and planted with the help of 250+ volunteers over three days.
Ribble Rivers Trust have been replanting trees to help prevent river bank erosion and to create habitats for invertebrates, fish and other creatures which live in rivers and streams. Barnoldswick Town Council with a team of volunteers gathered 175 Christmas trees from Barnoldswick to contribute to the scheme. In addition, 200 – 300 trees were collected in Clitheroe alone. Another 1500 trees were promised and will be replanted and used to protect the river from erosion.
