A small group of colleagues, family and friends gathered at the Cambridge Botanical Gardens on 4th December for a tree planting ceremony in memory of Kate Stokes, CLP Programme Officer, following her tragic death last year. Mark Rose, CEO of FFI talked about her great popularity and the positive mark she left on so many people around the world.

The tree is a Crimean Pine (Pinus nigra subsp. pallasiana) donated by Bedgebury Pinetum from material collected in Turkey. It is a tough tree that is well adapted to the conditions in Cambridge, and will continue to thrive for years to come even in a changing climate.

Kate’s memory will live on through the Kate Stokes Memorial Trust, which is now an independent registered charity that will offer one award of $5,000 per year to an outstanding team supported by the CLP. This year’s award was given to a team in Azerbaijan to provide ranger training in scientific monitoring skills, as well as providing for the production of a monitoring book in the Azeri language.

In 2006, the award went to the Green Corridor Project in Misiones, Argentina, which is forging ahead with the construction of a visitor’s centre in the corridor. The trustees have been invited to Misiones for a grand opening ceremony in September 2008 following the Birdlife International World Conference in Buenos Aires.