We gathered in Loxton Park, 26th January 2024, to plant three trees to celebrate the success of the iTree Eco Survey of 2023. The survey was commissioned by West Midlands Combined Authority and carried out in partnership between BTP, Treeconomics, Barton Hyett, and Forest Research. The Mayor of West Midlands, Andy Street, joined us to plant the tree that the wonderful Parks Team from Birmingham City Council prepared, taking part in this momentous occasion with us.
The survey collected data from 1,000 sample plots across Birmingham, Solihul, and Coventry, the former being BTP’s focus. Thanks to our fantastic and growing network of urban forest volunteers, like Krish Kumar who came along that morning after being a staple volunteer during the surveying, the survey was completed in an unbelievable two weeks! We will be posting more about the results very soon.
Representatives from the Mayor’s Office, WMCA, Treeconomics, Amazon, Birmingham City Council (including the Parks Team, who have helped us throughout our planting) were all in attendance for this wonderful event. The Mayor learned how to plant a tree first-hand! The Cabinet Member for the Environment and Councillor for Bromford and Hodge Hill, Majid Mahmood, arrived after afternoon prayers to show his advocacy for the tree planting and iTree initiatives, but he is already a planting-pro after helping BTP throughout Tree Week 2023.
We have been humbled and truly welcome all the warm support and assistance we have received with these citizen science projects. Placing community and its people at the forefront of the programmes, what we have achieved together as a result is something incredible and worthy of praise. Thank you to everyone involved this day, and every other day, that made the iTree Eco Survey a great experience.
