Royal Visit could be "prodding" for islanders to consider oak-planting "revolution"

Wednesday 17 July 2024

A green campaigner who wants to use Jersey as the UK's tree nursery has called for the King's Visit to be a "peddling" for islanders to get involved in what he calls "an agricultural new age for the island of Jersey".

Robin Waymouth hopes that island fields that currently stand empty will be used to plant oak trees from acorns collected in the island.

Mr Waymouth has since 2021 proposed Jersey as a tree nursery for the UK, helping it fulfil its aspiration to plant more million broadleaf saplings.

With 2024 predicted to be a boom time or "mast year" for oaks, as well as Monday's Royal Bisit highlighting the island's sustainability credentials, there was a "synergy" of events for his project to come together, he said.

Pictured: Robin Waymouth (left) planting Common English oak acorns (Quercus robur) in a field on Rue de Samarès, St Clement, last year. (Rob Currie)

Mr Waymouth had previously been involved in Jersey's iteration of the Queen's Green Canopy, an initiative which encouraged Brits to plant trees to mark the 2022 Jubilee, and school groups have in recent years assisted him in gathering acorns and planting them in fields in St Lawrence and St Clement.

Mr Waymouth has since been trying to convince finance industry representatives that ESG funds could be used for this purpose.

This would be "a win for Jersey's finance industry" as well as "a win for Jersey's farming industry" and "a win for the UK", he said.

The trees would provide additional revenue and help safeguard farms at a time when Jersey has largely stopped producing its own greens and Albert Bartlett remains as the sole potato exporter, he argued.