THE Forestry Department is encouraging Jamaicans to plant trees at home or in their communities on National Tree Planting Day — October 2.

“We are encouraging members of the public, if you plant even on the lead up to, please share your photographs with us. We will be hosting a virtual tree-planting event and we will be uploading images and videos of different tree-planting activities around the island,” senior manager for Public Relations and Corporate Communications at the Forestry Department, Francine Black-Richards told JIS News.

“So, we are encouraging persons to plant your tree, take a picture, take a video and share it with us. We will post it on National Tree Planting Day, so persons are seen engaging in the activity although we are not able to do it on the scale that we are accustomed to,” she said.

Participants may submit their photos and videos to forestrypr@gmail.com or fdinfo@forestry.gov.jm.

The Forestry Department, too, will be engaged in tree-planting activities leading up to National Tree Planting Day.

“On the lead up to, we will be working with different groups to do tree planting and we will be ensuring that we are appropriately spaced at least six feet, and the seedlings at least six to eight feet apart, while also ensuring persons are masked and sanitised. We will also be donating to some organisations that intend to do tree-planting activities,” Black-Richards said.

“A number of them have been writing to us, so we will be allocating some seedlings to them and we will be providing technical support as well, in the form of advice and guidance to help them to execute their tree-planting activities for National Tree Planting Day,” she added.

The theme for National Tree Planting Day is ‘Healthy Trees, Healthy You; Plant a Tree Today’, to bring awareness to the numerous health benefits provided by trees and the importance of maintaining a healthy forest cover.

The public has been reminded that a variety of timber, ornamental and fruit seedlings are available for collection through the Forestry Department’s nurseries at 173 Constant Spring Road in Kingston; Williamsfield, Manchester; and Moneague, St Ann between 8:00 am and 1:30 pm until October 7. Potted plants and select fruit and ornamental trees will also be on sale for as low as $250.

For a list of available seedlings and specie specifications, persons can visit the Forestry Department’s website at www.forestry.gov.jm.