Contractor who carried out unauthorised clearance of saplings at Lower Peirce Reservoir given warning, bore cost of replanting

The contractor involved in the unauthorised clearing of saplings planted by volunteers as part of the National Parks Board's (NParks) OneMillionTrees movement has been issued a 24-month conditional warning following the completion of NParks' investigation into the incident.

They had also bore the cost of replanting the saplings, which was completed on Jun. 9, 2026.

Project supervisor misunderstood instructions

In an update, NParks' group director for enforcement and investigation Jessica Kwok provided more details as to how the incident occurred.

Kwok shared that the contractor was engaged to carry out cyclical replacement of the boardwalk at Lower Peirce Reservoir, and needed to identify a location that was near the trail entrance to store their materials.

"NParks had communicated to the site supervisor that the area (at the planting site) proposed by the contractor was not suitable for their storage space. Additionally, NParks had identified a suitable location for storage, on the condition that no trees or plants would be affected," Kwok added.

Kwok said that NParks' investigations showed that the unauthorised clearing was "due to an error by the project supervisor who was covering the duties of the site supervisor on overseas leave".

"Although the site supervisor had communicated NParks’ directions to him, the project supervisor had misunderstood the instructions, and stored the materials at a site which NParks had earlier assessed to be not suitable," Kwok explained.

Contractor agreed to bear cost of replanting

The area that was cleared measured 40.5 square metres.

The site on which the volunteers planted the saplings totalled 165.5 square metres.

The contractor and project supervisor later admitted their error, Kwok said.

They also agreed to bear the cost of replanting and maintaining the cleared plot.

Contractor may be charged in court if they offend again

A 24-month conditional warning was issued to the contractor by NParks after "carefully considering the facts and circumstances of the matter".

"This was their first offence. However, if either the contractor or project supervisor commits another offence during this period, they may be charged in court for both the original and new offences," Kwok said.

Replanting completed

The affected plot has been replanted with 60 new plants, and replanting was completed on Jun. 9, 2026.

Kwok shared that the plants comprise species originally planted during the 2025 volunteer activity, as well as three new species that are food plants for the Raffles banded langur and a variety of forest birds.

The 2025 volunteer activity was organised by the Raffles Banded Langur Working Group as part of their anniversary celebrations.

The species of saplings selected for the activity also included food plants for the primates.

Kwok added that NParks has verified that all the species planted during the original 2025 activity can still be found in the area.