Tree Counting Shows Butu Conservatory’s Transformation from Bare Land to Green Haven

The Butu conservatory, now green with trees, in 2025

ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP • 31 MAY 2025

RCE Minna carried out a spot assessment and tree count at the Bridget Aisha Lemu Conservatory and Children’s Park, Butu Community, Three Arms Zone, Bosso Local Government Area, and at the RCE Minna Garden. The exercise measured progress since 2017, when the 5-hectare conservatory site was almost bare.

Then and now

The bare Butu conservatory site in 2017
Butu conservatory site in 2017.
The Butu conservatory, now green with trees, in 2025
The same conservatory in 2025.

640 trees counted

  • Butu Conservatory and Children’s Park: 196 trees of 14 varieties, including fruit, ornamental and medicinal species such as albizia, ficus, terminalia, eucalyptus, flame tree, baobab and mahogany;
  • RCE Minna Garden: 444 trees (371 inside the premises and 73 outside the gate) of 16 varieties, including leucaena, flame tree, albizia, black plum and orange.
The RCE Minna tree-counting team at the Butu conservatory
The tree-counting team at the conservatory.

What’s next

The conservatory is now a living classroom for students, researchers and the community. To build on this progress, RCE Minna plans to:

  • plant at least 1,000 more trees in the rainy season;
  • add indigenous and endangered species, and plant oil palm near the borehole;
  • set up a digital tree inventory; and
  • seek support for perimeter fencing to protect young trees from grazing and encroachment.

Partners and volunteers can join through our Green Fingers initiative, or contact RCE Minna.