The South of Scotland Tree Planting Grant Scheme offers grants of up to £1,000 for planting of native trees across Dumfries & Galloway and the Scottish Borders. The last month saw the first D&G School planting day taking place in Elmvale School in Annan, with 170 trees planted in the new Elmvale ‘Wonder Wood’.
The South of Scotland Tree Planting Grant Scheme covers Dumfries & Galloway and the Scottish Borders, supporting the small-scale planting of Native Trees, providing biodiversity, carbon capture and other benefits to the landscape of the South of Scotland.
Grants of up to £1,000 are available to fund the planting of native trees, including the purchase of the trees themselves and associated fencing/protection etc. The scheme is run in partnership between the Galloway Glens Scheme, Tweed Forum and Borders Forest Trust. The Dumfries & Galloway based applications grants are administered through the Galloway Glens Scheme, an initiative of Dumfries & Galloway Council’s Environment Team.
It is estimated that the funding available will support the planting of approximately 11,000 trees across Dumfries & Galloway before the end of the scheme in March 2022. For more information, and if you wanted to apply for the limited funding still available, see here: https://gallowayglens.org/native-tree-planting-across-dumfries-galloway-further-round-of-funding-available/.
The grants are available to individual landowners and community groups. A number of grant recipients have been schools across the region, with Annan’s Elmvale School being the first to hold a planting day this week. The children have christened the wood ‘The Elmvale Wonder Wood’. To celebrate the christening of the ‘Wonder Wood’. the children welcomed guests with poetry and song. Invited guests included community councillors and local police officers.
The lead contact for the South of Scotland Tree Planting Grant scheme in Dumfries & Galloway is the Jonathan Barrett, the Galloway Glens Land Management & Access officer. Jonathan said:
“Elmvale primary school is the first Dumfries and Galloway school to benefit from the South of Scotland Tree Planting grant scheme and the enthusiasm and engagement of the children in the creation of their own school woodland is wonderful to see.
We still have a small amount of funding available for planting through this winter, if you are interested, please do get in touch.”
Mrs Jacqui Hall, Headteacher of the school, said:
“The Elmvale Wonder Wood is a project which is enabling the children to create their own woodland as a place to learn and write stories whilst watching the passing of the seasons and imagining what they will be doing there in the future. When you mention the woodland you can see the children light up as they create something which belongs to them and is their future legacy to the school”.
