Plas Menai staff plant 1100 native trees

Staff at Plas Menai donned their wellies and winter woollies and braved the freezing temperatures to help Chartered Forester Richard Curtis plant and stake over 1000 native trees around ‘Trac Jackson’ the centre’s mountain bike track on Monday.

The sapling trees planted are a mix of native species including ash, oak and alder and were obtained with help from a Forestry Commission grant. The trees will be thinned out as they grow eventually producing a dense woodland backdrop for the mountain bike track.

Richard Curtis said "Plas Menai have benefited from the Better Woodlands for Wales grant scheme run by the Forestry Commission and I’m sure that the trees planted will be a great new addition to the bike track and the whole centre. Perhaps we will be seeing more wooden boats on the Menai straits in a few years?"

Despite the blisters and the cold, the staff at Plas Menai were delighted with their hard work and look forward to watching the fruits of their labour grow.

"The staff really got behind this project and despite the cold weather really got dug into the task"said Alan Williams centre manager.

Open to the general public ‘Trac Jackson’ was opened in 2006 and has four looped trails of varying difficulty, linking up to over 1km of riding. The track is free to use and is open all year round. Riders must provide their own bike, helmet and gloves.