This Loire-Atlantique association distributes 1,000 trees for free

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It is in a way the SPA of trees. The young Repousse association, which intervenes within a 50 km radius around Nantesand therefore in the Vineyard in particular, has given itself the mission of recovering trees intended to be crushed and then redistribute them free of charge to adoptive families who have the space and the desire to plant them, and who do not necessarily have the means to buy them from a nursery.

Another distribution announced for February

This week, three distributions are organized in Saint-Fiacre-sur-Maine. In total, there are no less than 1,000 trees to be donated. “In theory, they have all already found a buyer but it sometimes happens that some people withdraw, so I would still advise all those who would like to adopt trees to register,” says Marion Huet, co-founder of the association.

Especially since if the approach does not materialize this time, it will not be lost sinceanother large distribution is planned for February 2025in a location that has yet to be defined.

Individuals can of course receive them, but also and above all leaders of collective projects for shared gardens for example.

3,000 trees replanted in a year and a half

To become an adopter, you must fill out a form on the association's website and become a member. “Knowing that the price is free and conscientious, so as not to exclude anyone,” notes the woman who is now an employee of the association, as there is so much to do given the enthusiasm that her mission arouses.

In a year and a half, we planted 3,000 trees. It's super happy. There are plenty of people who are happy to act on their own scale for the environment.

It is also from this same desire that he came up with the idea of ​​creating this participatory tree nursery. “Like many, I was quite anxious about climate change. I first switched to organic, then to cycling, but I didn't know how to do more. That’s when I became interested in trees.”

Trees whose benefits are no longer presented: their shade protects from the sun, their evapotranspiration lowers the temperature, they help purify the air by absorbing carbon dioxide, help water to infiltrate into the soil while sheltering and feeding insects and animals. And their presence also contributes to individual well-being, which doesn’t spoil anything.

Concretely, how does it work?

The trees that the association collects come from people who cannot keep them on their plot or in their garden, for all kinds of reasons. And who prefer to offer them, rather than a disastrous destiny, a second life where they can flourish and grow. Grow because yes, we are not talking about century-old trees. “They must be less than 1.20 m tall, they must not be able to stay where they are and they must not be bay laurel, black locust tree or palm tree,” explains the co- responsible.

When all these criteria are met, donors are invited to uproot their small trees, shrubs or collect regrowth before depositing them, even with bare roots, in one of the 9 collection points scattered all around Nantes. In the Nantes vineyard, there are two: one in La Haye-Fouassière, the other in Saint-Fiacre-sur-Maine (a map with the precise addresses and drop-off times is visible on the website of the association here).

“The fruit of considerable work”

From there, they are either large enough to be directly replanted elsewhere, or they go to host families “who pamper them for a year to make them gain strength”, before being given during large distributions like the one this week in Saint-Fiacre.

We must therefore be aware – because some might wrongly think that when it is free, it has no value – that these famous 1,000 trees are the fruit of considerable work by 80 volunteers over many months.

This is a great source of satisfaction for Marion Huet who, in addition to being proud of this collective and participatory commitment to natureis delighted with the links it creates between the now some 180 members that the association already brings together.

To register for distributions and find out everything about the association, go to pushback.org. Note that the association is the winner of the call for initiatives from the Loire-Atlantique Territorial Foundation. As such, it is launching an appeal to businesses until December 31. Any donation (in addition to being 60% tax deductible) will see its amount doubled for the association. More information on the “Repousse L’association” Facebook page.

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