AN ambitious project to establish 1,000 rare trees in Darlington by the end of 2005 was given a helping hand on Saturday by Mayor Doris Jones.
The mayor planted a black poplar tree at South Burden Community Woodland, next to the River Skerne.
More than 30 guests visited the woodland to help plant the first 100 poplars in the scheme.
The native black poplar was once a feature of County Durham, especially on the low-lying floodplains of Darlington along the River Tees and its tributaries. But over the past 200 years, numbers have declined.
A Black Poplar project was set up two years ago with the aim of planting more than 1,000.
Working with Darlington Borough Council on the project are the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, the Wildlife Trust, Tees Forest and Darlington and Teesdale Naturalists Field Club.
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