All hands on deck to plant trees

Tired but happy faces at the end of the programme; Tan (front row, most right), Chow (front row, third from right), Nurul (second row, most right), Dr Khadijah (second row, second from left) with UTAR participants and residents

SL 2 Park is now “greener” with 28 new trees planted in conjunction with the “Nature Observation and Interpretation, and Gotong-Royong” programme held on 10 November 2018.

Organised by the Department of Student Affairs (DSA), the four-hour community programme was a collaborative effort of The Rimba Project of Universiti Malaya (UM), Malaysian Nature Society Flora Special Interest Group (MNS SIG Flora), Majlis Perbandaran Kajang (MPKJ), Putra Specialist Hospital Kajang and and the residents of SL 2.

Devoting their time and energy for the day were Founder of The Rimba Project Benjamin Ong, Senior Student Volunteer of The Rimba Project Tan Kai Ren, Senior Student Volunteer of The Rimba Project Nurul Fitrah Merican, MNS SIG Flora Vounteer Foo Wai Leng, MNS SIG Flora Vounteer Jim Koon Hup, representative of SL 2 residents Teresa Oh, MNS SIG Flora Vounteer Dr Siti Khadijah Rambe, DSA Assistant Manager Chow Keng Fatt, Head of Department of Estates and Facilities (DEF) Chan Ngai Yeen, DEF Senior Assistant Manager Hwong Guo Fu, Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Science and Engineering (LKC FES) Assistant Laboratory Manager Muhammad Izhar bin Mohamad Pauzi, LKC FES Senior Laboratory Assistant I Mohd Hanis bin Nazli, Faculty of Creative Industries Tutor Nurul Ezzati Aisya binti Mohd Zaki, Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research Assistant Manager Abdullah Munir bin Roslan, UTAR staff, students and local residents. During the gotong-royong, Councilor of MPKJ Law Wen Siang also dropped by to show his support.

The programme, which is part of the October 2018 intake orientation programme, started off with an hour of gotong-royong at the park, collecting rubbishes excluding dried leaves, branches and animal waste. Following the gotong-royong was the tree planting, tagging and signage set up session guided by Tan and Dr Khadijah.

Nurul finishing the tree planting

Dr Khadijah (most right) helping UTAR students to put up the signage

In the goodwill effort, MPKJ and MNS SIG Flora contributed 16 trees and 12 trees respectively. During the programme, the participants were given the chance to plant 16 trees, while the rest of the trees were planted two days prior to the programme by the MPKJ. The tree planting effort was warmly welcomed by the residents, to the extent, some even adopted the trees as a part of their commitment to the environment.

During the activities, Tan and Dr Khadijah also shared their knowledge and expertise with the participants on leaf mulching, urban wildlife as well as native local trees. Other than that, they also offered advice and suggestion of methods to contribute to urban nature environment, including soil fertility, natural pest control and attracting birds to the park.

Participants listening to Tan and Dr Khadijah (bottom photo) explaining about native trees and urban wildlife

Even before the programme commenced, many helping hands were involved in preparing for the day. Chan and Hwong prepared the pallets while, Muhammad Izhar, Mohd Hanis, Nurul Ezzati, Munir and a local resident Kong Mee Sing helped to prepare the signage and tree tags. Also came to aid were Putra Specialist Hospital Kajang Representative Faizul Hasri Zulkapli and Zulkifli Adam who offered their help to store the signage and tags at the hospital compound.

During the sharing session, with refreshments provided by the residents, fruitful ideas about the park were discussed. Among the highlights of the sharing session were the need to create awareness about the park among students, residents and other stakeholders, the potential of SL 2 Park to be a destination for biodiversity and different species learning and social engagement, and the importance of maintaining the park to attract new species of birds while at the same time preserve the diversity of plants.

Putra Specialist Hospital Kajang also offered free medical checkup upon registration