Leeds City Council is once again encouraging residents to get involved in an annual seed collection to help with the ambitious target of planting 5.8m trees over 25 years across the city.

In a bid to tackle the climate emergency, people of all ages are being asked to get involved with the Seed Collection 2022 programme, which is running throughout autumn for the third year.

There will be 13 collection points across the city and residents who want to get involved will be asked to collect four tree seed species, which are acorns, beech nuts, chestnuts and conkers.  The tree seeds will then be taken to the council’s designated specialist plant nursery and garden centre the Arium, where they are sown and grown to be planted back into Leeds parks and green spaces.

The Woodland Creation initiative, which is managed by the council’s parks service, will manage the planting of new woodlands in a bid to capture carbon, increasing biodiversity by creating habitats for birds, animals and insects. The new woodlands will also enhance green spaces creating accessible woodlands for community use by helping to improve health, wellbeing and understanding of climate change.

More information on the programme can be found on the Arium website.

Councillor Salma Arif, Leeds City Council’s executive member for public health and active lifestyles, said: “The last three years of the seed collection programme have been a huge success with residents of all ages getting involved. This work has made a great contribution towards our ambition of planting 5.8million trees over the next 25 years in our parks and green spaces and while we still have a long way to go, we are thankful to people for getting involved.

“By collecting seeds you are helping create new habitats for birds and plants and creating more green spaces which will ultimately improve the health and wellbeing of residents across Leeds."