The public can help to ensure the future survival of Bermuda?s cedar trees by collecting 10,000 berries, but there are only two weeks left to do it.

Many of the cedar berries have fallen to the ground already which makes them more difficult to collect but they are still usable.

?We are encouraging everybody who has a tree with berries in their yard, or in their neighbourhood, or along their walks to collect,? Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan Co-ordinator Jennifer Gray said yesterday.

Ms Gray said the biggest problem with re-foresting the Island with cedars is that it is overrun with invasive plants.

?The cedar is adapted for survival in Bermuda,? Ms Gray said. ?It is salt and wind resistant but there are not enough of them, so the invasive plants take over. The idea here is to collect the seeds, propagate the seedlings, give them a head start and then do mass plantings to try and get that reforestation going.?

She said Hurricane Fabian in 2003 was a huge setback to seed collection efforts so there is now an Island-wide shortage of saplings at the plant nurseries at Tulo Valley and Save Open Spaces (SOS).

?The seedlings they were bringing on five or six years ago are now all in the ground and they don?t have enough seedlings coming up,? she said.

SOS has a target for 2006 of 10,000 seedlings, however, not every cedar seed collected will grow into a plant, so many berries are needed to get that kind of propagation.

She said only fruit-bearing ? or female ? trees will have the seeds.

And in light of the scale insect blight which decimated the Island?s cedar population in the 1940s and 1950s there are genetic advantages to collecting cedar seeds in 2005.

?Cedar trees in the last two decades have become more resistant to the Juniper scale, which is still on the Island,? said Ms Gray. ?So the biggest, strongest, most resistant trees are the ones you want to bring along. However, if you took all those trees and planted them in one spot, some other disease could come along and wipe them out completely because they are all genetically the same.

?So, by collecting from different areas and mixing up your seeds in cross germination between plants after they have been planted, then you are actually strengthening the cedar tree population.?

BNT Environmental Conservation Officer Dorcas Roberts said berries should be collected when they are dark purple, by holding a bag underneath the branches of the tree and rubbing, or laying a tarpaulin under the tree and carefully shaking the tree. They can also be collected from the ground.

?(BNT) has already advertised for the collection of cedar berries by the public for the important job of growing saplings,? Mrs. Roberts said. ?It is important because SOS provides the Trust and other conservation groups with native and endemic trees for their conservation projects.?

Collected cedar berries can be dropped off at ?Shorelands? across the street from the Bermuda Aquarium in Flatts or at ?Waterville? across from the entrance to Aberfeldy Nurseries off Harbour Road.

More information can be obtained from Ms Gray at 293-2727 or Mrs. Roberts at 236-6483.