Kiwis help plant over 100,000 trees as a legacy to RWC

Kiwis help plant over 100,000 trees as a legacy to RWC

Thousands of New Zealanders have now helped to plant over 100,000 native trees as part of the Living Legends project.

Living Legends is a community conservation project that was established in 2011 to celebrate and leave a legacy of New Zealand’s hosting of Rugby World Cup. It is a five year project that will eventually see 170,000 native trees planted through public planting events held every year. A staggering 110,350 native trees have been planted so far, with a further 18,000 to be planted this year.

There are 17 planting projects around New Zealand and each is dedicated to a Rugby Legend from the region. These include rugby greats such as Sir Colin Meads, Buck Shelford and Todd Blackadder.

“Reaching the 100,000 trees mark is a huge milestone. We’re very proud of our commitment to helping to restore New Zealand’s bio-diversity with our Rugby Legends. Living Legends was established as an opportunity for people to get involved in the restoration of native tree populations alongside Rugby Legends in their local community” says Devon McLean, Project Manager for Living Legends. “We look forward to seeing the next 18,000 trees being planted over the next two weeks”.

There is still opportunity for people to get involved with a local planting project this year, with events to be held this weekend in Wellington, Punakaiki, Tauranga and next weekend in Otago, Southland, Manawatu and Waikato.

Living Legends is a joint venture of Project Crimson, an environmental charity with 22 years experience in community-based native restoration projects and The Tindall Foundation. Major sponsors are the Department of Conservation and Meridian Energy.

For more information about the programme please visit www.livinglegends.co.nz

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