It was a proud moment for the Rosebank Killarney Gazette team when the last spade full of soil marked the official planting of the Gazette’s first tree in Houghton.
The tree, a buddleja saligna (false olive) was planted at the Glenhove intersection in Houghton on 11 September. He or she has been nicknamed Ollie.
This year’s Arbour Month theme is ‘forests and sustainable cities’. September is also Heritage Month and focus is put on the country’s ‘champion’ trees which include some of the oldest, largest and culturally significant specimens.
The Gazette under the Caxton Cares banner decided to actively play a role in preserving our urban forest. This newspaper has been reporting about the dreaded polyphagous shot-hole-borer (PSHB) beetle since April last year.
Since then the PSHB infestation has severely affected our urban forest with hundreds of trees being infected with the deadly bug in areas such as Craighall Park, Illovo, Rosebank Houghton and Parkhurst, with more reported each month.
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The Gazette is determined to contribute to the greening of the community which falls in line with this newspaper’s outreach campaign #ProtectOurTrees and encourages the community to do the same.
The #ProtectOurTrees campaign aims to promote education, public debate, research and to provide a channel in which to help organisations and residents better communicate with the City of Joburg but more importantly, protect Joburg’s trees.
Don’t forget to visit our online #ProtectOurTrees portal for the latest PSHB news.
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