To mark next year’s 800th anniversary of the Channel Islands’ allegiance to the Crown, a wood of 800 trees to be called La Boua?s’sie du Duc – Jèrriais for The Duke’s Wood – will be planted in five fields overlooking St Catherine’s Bay.The idea came from the 1204-2004 organising committee and involves the Jersey Association of the Men of the Trees, the Jersey Evening Post, the Jersey Heritage Trust and the Jersey Conservation Volunteers.Committee chairman Nigel Quérée said: ‘One of the aims of the celebrations is to provide a lasting legacy.
There can be no better legacy than trees, which will enhance the environment and provide a tangible reminder of the events of both 1204 and 2004.’The wood will forever stand as a testament of Jersey’s history and heritage.
Planting trees is also a clear statement about our faith in the future.’For £20, Islanders will be able to buy a tree, receiving official recognition by having their names inscribed on a roll of honour.
They will also be given the opportunity to take part in the project by joining the Jersey Conservation Volunteers over the first weekend of the new year in preparing the land and planting trees.Mr Quérée said: ‘Not only are we asking the public to buy the trees, but we are also asking for their help to plant them, under the supervision of the Men of the Trees.
Future generations will be able to say that their families contributed to this important tree planting scheme.’The land was selected for its idyllic location, with distant views of Normandy and its Royal connections.
Two of the fields are in St Martin’s Vingtaine de la Fief de la Reine and all were previously Crown land, part of St Catherine’s Estate, acquired in the construction of St Catherine’s Breakwater.
The estate lands were sold, ceded and transferred to the public of Jersey in 1878.The 800 trees, which comprise 400 tall forest species, such as oak and sweet chestnut, and 400 lower-growth species, such as hawthorn and apple, will be planted in groups in suitable areas depending on the terrain and ground conditions.Once planting is complete, the wood will be open to the public, with a viewing area to the north for the less abled-bodied to enjoy the living monument.
