A total of 1.4 million trees will be planted in the Murray-Sunset National Park over the next two years to assist the survival of endangered species. Source: ABC News
Volunteers and paid personnel, part of a CO2 Australia program, planted more than 500,000 indigenous native tubestock seedlings across 550 hectares in the Murray-Sunset National Park, in Victoria’s far north-west, in May.
More planting days are scheduled, with 900,000 seedlings still to be put in the ground.
The project, to restore 1200 hectares of endangered Buloke Woodlands, is part of the Federal Government’s 20 Million Trees Program.
CO2 Australia is a private company delivering this project in partnership with Parks Victoria.
Operations director Aaron Soanes said the plantings have been designed in such a way to improve connectivity with existing patches of remnant vegetation and larger tracts of native forest.
The company has been sourcing and growing seedlings for the project since mid-2015.
Mr Soanes said a dozen different species of trees that made up the endangered Buloke Woodland area would revegetate a deforested area of the national park.
“We’re building on the work that Parks Victoria has done over decades,” he said. “If Parks Victoria hadn’t been controlling the pest animals in the park, mostly goats, we wouldn’t be able to do this work.”
Mr Soanes said the revegetation project would benefit endangered species such as Mallee emu-wren and Mallee fowl.
“We’re hoping to re-create the nature bush in those areas that was cleared prior to it becoming a national park, so that those birds can thrive,” he said.
“We’ve got a way to go yet but we’re on scale to reach that 1.4 million.
“The Murray-Sunset National Park is a massive park, some 660,000 hectares of land, so our 1,200 hectares of revegetation of land, in the broader context, is a fairly small area.”
Mr Soanes said that while CO2 Australia was a commercial enterprise, it aimed to make a change to the environment while engaging with the local community and employ local people.
“We have planted 30 million trees across Western Australia, central Victoria and New South Wales, so we’ve been doing this work for quite a while and working with public and private enterprises to do this work across Australia,” he said.
The company has employed project officer Vanessa Oxley, based in Red Cliffs, as well as contractors for spraying, site preparation and monitoring works.
Environmental groups Friend of Kings Billabong, Mallee Conservation Landcare Group, Yelta Landcare Group and Bird Life Australia were among volunteers on a community day on 29 May.
Mr Soanes welcomed volunteers, including schools, community and conservation groups, to join in upcoming community engagement days. The project is expected to conclude in June 2018.
