Apple Tree (shop door), laurel and arbutus-tree are some of the species that now inhabit the University of Minho campi. The Fiftieth Anniversary Woods were inaugurated, on March 21st, in the scope of the commemorations of the round number that the Minho’s academy reaches next year.

The spaces, which are divided by the sports pavilion of the Gualtar Campus, in Braga, and by the general library of the Azurém Campus, in Guimarães, have a total of 50 trees, including more than a dozen species.

According to the coordinator of the project, the aim was “to include trees with and without fruit and shrubs to give the feeling of a forest”. Besides, explains Paula Jorge, also a researcher from the School of Engineering, we tried to explore areas of the campi “more stripped” to do the plantation and, from there, “densify the places”.

Alder, holly, holm oak, betula pubescens, Kermes oak, oak, ash, hawthorn, elderberry, cork oak and rowan are other species present in the woods. The president of the fiftieth anniversary commemorations commission refers that the “variety” of flora also intends to symbolize the “diversity” that exists in the University of Minho. João Cardoso Rosas also praises that “the green spaces were created 100% with resource to autochthonous species”.

Also present in the inauguration of the Fiftieth Anniversary Woodlands, the rector praises that this initiative reflects the “sensibility of the university regarding the environmental problem”, that “constitutes an enormous challenge for all contemporary societies”. On the other hand, Rui Vieira de Castro attributes a more symbolic character.

“As has been said here, when you plant a tree, the benefits that you reap will probably not be fully enjoyed by those who planted it. Therefore, it is a way of assuming the future and the construction of the future as an essential concern of the institution”, he points out.

SOURCE: RUM