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SINGAPORE: Nutan Shah blew up the ground as his cangkul slammed fast and sure down onto the forest floor. In the hole he dug, he carefully placed a sapling and then refilled the holes with soil.
The final steps were to water the plant and leave a ring of dry leaves around it to act as a fertilizer. It is hard work, but you have already planted about a dozen trees in Singapore and you still cannot get enough of this.
Ms. Nutan Shah planting a tree in Thomson Nature Park on October 24, 2020 (Photo Chew Hui Min)
Ms. Shah, who is 50, said she felt “rejuvenated” while sweating surrounded by trees. She hopes the trees will help reduce her carbon footprint and, in the long term, help lower temperatures in Singapore.
“I call them community babies, because obviously it’s a community effort … but secretly inside my home, I say I planted them,” he laughed.
On Saturday (October 24) afternoon, Ms. Shah, two other volunteers, and this reporter planted 20 saplings in Thomson Nature Park, with some support from National Parks Board (NParks) staff and two workers gardening.
We weren’t the only group planting trees there this weekend. Visitors to the park on your Sunday morning hike may not realize it, but there are 100 new saplings taking root in the park.
READ: Singapore to plant 1 million trees and develop more gardens and parks by 2030
That’s just 0.01 percent of the 1 million trees Singapore plans to plant in the next 10 years, an initiative announced in March this year by Desmond Lee, then Second Minister for National Development. So far more than 60,000 trees have been planted.
These trees will not only be in nature parks, but will be found on streets and roadsides, along park connectors, and in nature reserves. This will bring the number of trees in Singapore to more than 8 million.
FOODS FOR TONGUES AND OTHER ANIMALS
Among the 10 tree species planted on Saturday was the critically endangered nephelium maingayi, a hairless relative of the rambutan, which bears fruits that are delicious to the Raffles striped langur and other native animals.
Raffles ringed langurs are one of the endangered native animals that call the nature park home, as well as the Central Catchment Nature Reserve that it borders.
READ: Sungei Buloh Nature Park Network to be Established, Including New Lim Chu Kang Nature Park
The seeds of the nephelium maingayi were first collected from the Nee Soon swamp forest and, like the other native species that were planted on Saturday, were grown in the Pasir Panjang nursery before being transported to Thomson Nature Park on Saturday for your transplant.
“They are all food plants for the Raffles’ ringed langur,” said Dr. Adrian Loo, director of the NParks group, as he recited the scientific names of all the trees and their various characteristics.
Dr. Adrian Loo, National Parks Board Group Director at Thomson Nature Park on October 22, 2020.
It is part of NPark’s plan that the animals that eat the plants then help spread the tree seeds throughout the forest, he added.
Elsewhere, volunteers have planted trees in the legume family, which can convert nitrogen from the air into a form that plants can absorb, thus fertilizing the soil naturally.
The One Million Trees movement isn’t just a numbers game, he explained using these examples, there are multiple considerations when it comes to which trees to plant and where to plant them.
READ: A new central green corridor will be created connecting East Coast Park and Changi Beach Park: Heng Swee Keat
Thomson Nature Park, for example, used to be a town where the land was used for agriculture and there are many non-native plants, but NParks volunteers and staff have been clearing invasive species from the area and planting more native species.
“What we want to do is let it come closer to a primary rainforest … plant native plants so that they can support native species and also support the conservation of native plants … for example, the hairless rambutan,” he said Dr. Loo.
The dead leaves are piled up around the young trees as fertilizer.
There will be other considerations for planting trees in urban areas or park connectors.
LIVING LEGACY
Just a few steps from where I helped plant the 20 trees, there is a forest plot that has been adopted by the Jane Goodall Institute in Singapore and where 10 volunteers were planting another 30 trees.
Last year, students and volunteers had already planted 80 trees on this site.
The institute had plans to organize tree planting trips for students and for them to collect data on trees to track tree growth and involve children in research work. But the projects have been “completely derailed” by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Tan Beng Chiak, a teacher and fellow at the institute.
“There are so many species, you don’t know what it is that will really do well and survive better here … so I think it’s a good learning process for everyone … I hope our children and the students we work with, will continue this legacy, “he said.
FOCUS: How urbanized Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife
READ: New Pasir Panjang Park to Present Elements of Natural and Cultural History
While groups of students are still unable to return, a group of teachers and volunteers from the institute came on Saturday not only to plant new trees, but also to check the health of previously planted trees.
After planting the fresh saplings, the volunteers busied themselves cleaning vines and removing debris from the site that could interfere with the trees’ development. NParks staff members said that after plantings, they will also control the rain and can re-water the saplings if the weather has been dry.
Ms Aparna Upadhyay (left), Ms Vijayalakshmi Turnbull and Ms Nutan Shah bump their fists after planting 20 trees in Thomson Nature Park on October 24, 2020 (Photo: Chew Hui Min).
Ms Shah, a budding tree enthusiast, said she has been tracking her trees through the NParks website, and all of the volunteers said they will be coming back to check their trees.
Tree planting spaces have been quickly exhausted and the agency is trying to add more spaces, Dr. Loo said.
“I haven’t met anyone who has said ‘I hate this, this sucks,’ they’ll say, ‘Wow, I want to do more of this,'” he said. “They are very proud because they planted a tree and they want to go back to that place and see how their tree grew … Everyone has an interest in our vegetation, in that sense.”
Members of the public can register to plant trees on the TreesSG portal.
