Environment     

Century-old tree focus of rescue

Shanghai Daily, March 11, 2013

• An effort to prevent a century-old plane tree from falling down started yesterday at Jing'an Park in Shanghai, using a fund of 120,000 yuan (US$19,354) supported by residents' donations, insurance and government subsidies.

  Plans call for using a nearby rockery to support the inclining tree, which was hit by typhoon Haikui last August. Right now, any storm or typhoon would probably cause the tree to collapse, park officials said.

  The current distance between the tree and the rockery is 2 to 3 meters. When the project is done in about 20 days, the rockery will form a supporting back for the tree.

  The easiest way to protect the tree would be a steel structure, but the idea was dropped because it would disturb the landscape, officials said.

  About one third of the fund is from donations. Shanghai encourages residents to adopt trees, and regulations state that the use of each penny will be recorded.

  The city also has a 150 million yuan insurance fund for rare and old trees.

  Meanwhile, over 20 spots in the city will provide 311,000 square meters for people to plant trees through March to mark the Arbor Day tomorrow.

Copyright © China.org.cn. All Rights Reserved