600 Bangaloreans Make 1 Lakh Seed Balls To Green Western Ghats

600 Bengalureans came together in KR puram, last weekend and made more than 100,000 seed balls. Within three hours they prepared around one lakh seed balls, which will go on to increase the green cover in Western Ghats in the coming years, said the organisers.

The event was organized by an group called the SayTrees. The members of the organisation will now take the seed balls to the forests of Kodagu in Karnataka and plant them next week with the help of the forest department. The group wants to regreen the area as thousands of trees were lost during the floods last year.

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SayTrees is a professionally run group of ordinary people who are determined to protect the environment. They also believe in sensitising others about the necessity for environment conservation and bringing them together for tree-plantation campaigns. The organization has been actively making seed balls since 2007 and sowing them in different parts of the state.

Last year, SayTrees had made thousands of seed balls and were sown in Chintamani and Bagepalli.

For the seed balls, a mixture of soil and manure is used and each seed ball contains one or more seeds inside. The group which cut across all age groups, made many varieties of seed balls. On Sunday, they made eight varieties of seed balls including banyan, peepal and tamarind.

To bring back the lost greenery, the organisation wants to involve the locals from Kodagu district and sow the seed balls in Kodagu.

Priya Sharath, a resident, said seed balls help in faster growth of the lost green spaces. “In hilly regions, there are special trees that are required. We have actually carried out the research, based on which these seed balls are prepared.”

Talking to Iamrenew, Durgesh Agrahari of Say Tress said about the event,” This was a one-time event, in the beginning of the monsoon. We will carry on with our plantations throughout the year.”

We hope that the event such as these will be held in other states struggling with decreasing forest cover. This forms an excellent way to involve locals, young and old, to come together and enjoy the fruits of their labor.