To celebrate Arbor Day (or Planting Trees Day) on March 12 and prepare for the World Horticultural Expo, the Qingdao municipal forestry administration on March 7 announced venues for this year’s voluntary tree-planting campaign and also a hotline number for citizens to sign up for the event.

About 1,500 government officials and volunteers have already offered to plant trees on March 12 on Baiguo Mountain and at Haidu Ecological Park. Since the campaign will be held on Saturday, the forestry administration is asking all citizens to join the team.

The municipal government plans to plant an estimated 13 million trees this year covering areas that total 867,000 square kilometers in size. Trees will be planted along major railways, highways and on nearby hills. Four new forestry parks and nine modern forestry demonstration parks also will be built.

In the next five years, Qingdao will add 4 million square kilometers of forests to ensure that 40 percent of the city covered by forests, an increase of 4 percentage points from the 11th Five-Year Plan period.

By Shi Qian and Audrey