THE LIME Foundation has undertaken to rehabilitate Halberstadt in the hills of St Andrew, by planting over 600 seedlings on 2 1/2 acres there earlier this month.

Halberstadt, located on the southern side of the Blue Mountains, has been heavily deforested over the years as a result of farmers clearing land for agricultural use.

“At LIME we take conservation, protection of natural resources and our environment very seriously. We live here, we do our business here and our children will grow up here, so we must do our part to ensure that we preserve and protect the natural environment they will inherit,” said Errol Miller, chairman of the Foundation.

The planting was carried out by a team of over 50 employee volunteers on Friday, October 11 to mark National Tree Planting Day, observed on the first Friday of October each year.

The theme this year was ‘Invest in tomorrow: Plant a Tree Today’.

LIME has marked the day with tree-planting and beautification efforts at schools in Kingston and St Catherine for the past two years.

“Each year we try to implement initiatives on National Tree Planting Day that assist with beautification, provision of shade or the enrichment of the natural environment. This year’s effort is by far the largest we have ever undertaken and forms part of a wide-scale plan to assist the Forestry Department with the planting of 10,000 new trees over the next year,” said Miller.

Marilyn Headley, CEO of the Forestry Department said maintenance of tree cover in these hilly areas is critical to the management of rain water and to preventing land slippage.

“We have always felt that input from corporate Jamaica is important in achieving the work that we have been set up to do and having one of our biggest corporate citizens getting involved will assist in spreading awareness on the issue,” she said.

Headley used the opportunity to also appeal to companies that use various environmental end products to get involved in the ‘greening’ of Jamaica.