20 Million Trees going in the ground
Wouldn’t it be nice to say you’ve planted 20 million trees!! Well we haven’t managed to do that yet, but we have contributed to the overall target with 13,000 in the ground so far this planting season, thanks to the massive effort of our amazing volunteers and the equally awesome NGT crew. The main aim is to restore the landscape to provide habitat for all creatures great and small.
Eaglehawk Waterhole Restoration Reserve
This year’s 20 Million Tree plantings commenced up in the upper South East district of Bangham, at Eaglehawk Waterhole Restoration Reserve. A great bunch of 16 volunteers made the trek down, over, up or across to Eaglehawk and we camped out amongst the birds, gums and night-time roll call of possums, owls and gliders. The weather was mostly kind to the group but the campfire was even better, thanks to good company and Gordon’s damper!!
This year we prepared a highly diverse species list again, thanks to our brilliant nurseryman Ryan (and helpers). These plants will enable us to provide not only food plants (Stringybark and Buloke) for the Red-tailed Black cockatoo, but also a range of tall shrubs, medium shrubs, ground covers, grasses and herbs to further boost local populations and connections throughout the property. It was also incredibly motivating to see such great survivorship results from previous year’s planting activities!
NGT crew and volunteers planting and guarding at Eaglehawk Waterhole
Overall, it was a great trip and we are looking forward to watching how our efforts are helping the natural landscape bounce back. Sam, our local caretaker, will continue the task of placing guards on seedlings and keeping an eye on weeds.
Our first planting day was an ‘atrocious’, windy, raining, and freezing-cold Friday; however, all credit to our tough volunteers – the crew stuck it out even in the face of hail. Check out the weather app’s minute by minute data for the day before (below) and our short video of the wall of ice that came towards us after lunch. What an experience!
Actual wind speed compared to predicted on the day before the planting
On the Saturday, the heavens didn’t open up quite as they did on Friday, and we were fortunate to have 5GTR radio presenter Matthew (plus sister Sarah) join us for planting. You can listen to a few interviews between Matthew and volunteers on the day (below) while we were sitting in the shed enjoying an amazing BBQ lunch.
Revegetation planting has not quite finished for this year at Mount Burr Swamp. If you are keen to be involved, keep an ear out, or an eye on our volunteer page for information on a September planting program. We hope to finish planting tea-tree close to the water’s edge.
Planting at Mount Burr Swamp: (left) Crew on the morning of Day 1. (Right) Crew following hail on Day 2.
These Nature Glenelg Trust projects are supported by funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Programme.
