The City Hall of Vila Nova de Famalicão is performing safety pruning in a hundred pine trees and old poplars of the Devesa Park, considered the "green lung" of the city and that this Wednesday, September 28, celebrates 10 years of life.
With the completion of these works aims to eliminate dead branches and reduce the volume of the crown, lowering the risk of falling considerably. The action is included in the application "Enhancement of Urban Tree Structure - Vila Nova de Famalicão" which also provides for the planting at the end of next year, 41 shrubs and 429 trees of 23 species, mostly riparian, deciduous and native, on the riverbank of the River Pelhe that crosses the Devesa Park.
The application was approved under the Operational Program Compete 2020, on support for "Climate Transition - Resilience Interventions of Territories Facing Risk and (Re) afforestation of Green Spaces and the Creation of Islands-Shadow in Urban Environment".
The planting action covers an area of more than 6 hectares, in the flatter areas next to the river, where there are still few adult tree specimens, but also in areas with groups of specimens that already need renovation.
In addition to increasing the tree cover of the Parque da Devesa and creating more sheltered and shaded areas to stay and socialize, the intervention also aims to mitigate the ambient temperature in the park and in the city, improving air and water quality of the river, promoting biodiversity, the replacement of trees that fell due to adverse weather conditions or other factors, increasing the attractiveness of the park and mitigating climate change through the sequestration of carbon dioxide and temperature reduction.
The two actions represent a total planned investment of 79,647 euros, of which 75,000 are co-financed.
"It is a good gift that we give to the Park. The care we have with this space of national reference, much cherished and frequented by the famalicenses, is the mirror of the importance we recognize to it", says the mayor, Mário Passos.