Enterprise colleagues, alongside members of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, Scottish Government and National Library of Scotland, planted more than 800 trees in Glen Finglas as part of our conservation pledge to plant 50 million trees in 50 years across Europe and North America.
The initiative, now in its tenth year, has already seen more than 11 million trees planted, and will see a further 75,200 trees planted in the UK this year taking the country’s total to more than 800,000 since 2007.
The volunteering day was held in conjunction with the Woodland Trust, the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity, and Enterprise’s UK partner in delivering the project.
The trees that were planted by Enterprise Rent-A-Car volunteers are UK native species, including alder, birch, hazel, hawthorn, oak and rowan. Volunteers were guided throughout the process with planting demonstrations provided by the Woodland Trust staff.
The planting site, Glen Finglas, is part of the Great Trossachs Forest National Nature Reserve, one of the most ambitious nature restoration projects taking place in Scotland. It is a great expanse of ancient woodland, lochs and open heathland, and is home to one of the best examples of upland wood pasture in Scotland. Along with Milton Glen, the Lendrick Plantation and Bochastle Field, Glen Finglas makes up the largest Woodland Trust property to date, and the estate supports iconic wildlife including red deer, golden eagles and black grouse.
The Woodland Trust is Enterprise’s delivery partner for the tree pledge in the UK, and the US-based Arbor Day Foundation is the overall project partner. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, 50 million trees can absorb more than 50 million pounds of carbon, produce oxygen for up to 200 million people per day and lift as much as a billion gallons of water out of the ground and into the air.
Diane Mulholland, General Manager of our Scottish business, said: “It has been fantastic for our employees to spend a day in Glen Finglas with our customers to bring this global initiative to life. As a business, we are committed to supporting, protecting and helping to develop the local communities in which we operate. Our 50 Million Tree Pledge is an ecological initiative that forms an important part of this, and we’re pleased to be working alongside organisations such as the Woodland Trust who share our drive for providing positive and sustainable contributions to the communities we are in.”
Ollie Cannon, Corporate Fundraiser at The Woodland Trust, said: “The Woodland Trust is delighted to be working alongside Enterprise on achieving their global goal of planting 50 million trees. We encourage all our corporate partners to join us and get involved in the practical side of things. Enterprise’s employees were certainly keen to do this and helped us accomplish our planting target of 6,000 native broadleaf trees throughout the week.”
