Royal Gazette: Volunteers plant trees to help protect island nature reserve
More than 100 people dug deep to help the Bermuda National Trust plant native and endemic trees for a project at Spittal Pond designed to protect the area from cow manure run-off.
The BNT has dug a berm to protect the pond from pollutants and run-off from the nearby dairy farm and has cleared part of the area.
Volunteers, including Rena Lalgie, the Governor, and her husband, spent the day reintroducing about 400 trees to the area.
Karen Border, the executive director of the BNT, said the pollutants could cause algae blooms that deplete the pond of oxygen and kill off the fish population.
Ms Border added: “Spittal Pond is a community space. We would like more people to come and enjoy it and we are trying to begin to transition it back to an endemic and native stronghold.”
The BNT submitted plans last June to pave a berm near the pond to keep run-off from the farm getting into the water.
They are also repairing a fence to keep cows out of the pond.
Ms Border said that hundreds of trees would be planted along the berm as well as along the pond in the coming months, with volunteers handling a significant part of that work.
She added that getting the public to participate in rebuilding the nature reserve would help boost community investment in the space.
Myles Darrell, head of natural heritage for BNT, said that the event was “another labour of love” to preserve Bermuda’s natural and cultural heritage.
Mr Darrell wants to get the wider public involved because it promotes greater understanding and respect for the BNT’s efforts.
He said that people “feel a kinship to their place” and become invested in the natural area.