Established in 1968 by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nayhan, the Al Ain Wildlife Park & Resort (AWPR) will include more than 900 hectares of land and is home to 4300 animals, 30% of which are considered to be endangered. As part of the transformation into a wildlife resort, significant development is progressing to set the standards globally for conservation education offered to its visitors.
Driven by the desire to encourage the people of the UAE to live in harmony with nature, the transformation did not only focus on relocating the 180 species of animals to which the zoo is home, there was a far bigger issue of moving some of the oldest members of the zoo, some of which had been there before the zoo was even opened.
Operation “green fingers” has involved the moving of more than 500 trees, and has taken more than 35,000 man hours, 50 staff, including an expert team flown in from California, to ensure that everything runs smoothly and the trees are kept as stress-free as possible. The Al Ain Wildlife Park & Resort is working in partnership with Valley Crest Middle East - a leading landscape company from California with which Al Ain Wildlife Park & Resort has established a joint venture. The operators have scoured over 2000 acres for over four weeks, cataloging the trees according to species, size, vital statistics and GPS coordinates. Every care and precaution is taken to ensure that the trees remain as stress free as possible and there is a 99% success rate in moving the trees.
The mature trees, some taller than 20 meters (65 feet) and more than 40 years old, will be re-introduced into the completed Al Ain Wildlife Park & Resort. The Al Ain Wildlife Park & Resort, adhering to the highest standards of sustainability, is taking great efforts to preserve the trees. This is a practice consistent with sustainability guidelines and sound development. When the 900 hectare site is complete with desert safaris, resort, residential, learning and conservation centres, the landscape will be populated with mature, native trees and plants.
Using techniques developed in the US and for the first time applied in the UAE, each tree takes on average 60 days to move and the procedure involves a complex technique of creating a box (made of eco-plastic lumber produced in Dubai) for each tree, lifting and moving the tree to a temporary nursery, before sending it to its final destination where it is planted. (see notes to editor for more in depth information).
Al Mansouri, Managing Director of Al Ain Wildlife Park & Resort comments on why this is perhaps the most important part of the AWPR project; “People around the world tend to take their tree and plant life for granted – in the desert it is something that we cherish. Here in Al Ain we are extremely proud of our beautiful collection of trees, which is why we have a dedicated team of 50 to look after them. Our collection ranges from Ghaf to Acacia trees and we wanted to be sure that they remain a key feature in the new wildlife park. We are very proud to be the pioneers of this technique in the UAE and we hope that other reserves and developments will follow suit and relocate their trees as opposed to destroying or abandoning them.”
Robert Crudup, President of Valley Crest Tree Company comments on the move (the company moving the trees): “Working in partnership with AWPR is a perfect match for us as we have many synergies in terms of the way we view the environment, and our vision for creating a more ecologically friendly and sustainable environment for future generations in the UAE. We are about 75% of the way there with the first stages of the move and are pleased to say, that so far, all of the trees involved are responding extremely well to their new habitat.”
Come and see for yourself…
The chance to see the tree location is a once in a life time opportunity and one which will only be available until mid-April. We would be delighted to give you a guided tour and talk you through the process, showing you some of the trees which have been moved and have already settled in to their new environment.
