Residents of Wagga Wagga and surrounds picked up their gardening gloves and trowels to help plant seedlings for the community planting event run by Wagga Wagga City Council in celebration of National Tree Day 2023.
There were more than 1000 local native seedlings to plant on Sunday 30 July at Charles Sturt University Farm, and despite the foggy morning, volunteers and Council staff were excited for a day dedicated to nature.
Environmental Officer Samantha Pascall said the event exceeded expectations, with an increased number of volunteers over previous National Tree Day events.
“We have been overwhelmed with the response from the volunteers; we had more than 120 people register for the event, and even more who showed up on the day,” Ms Pascall said.
The planting saw an outstanding 145 volunteers, a combination of various members of the community – kids, adults, returners and first timers – all who chose to give their Sunday morning to helping our local biodiversity.
With so many hands to help, the work was finished earlier than ever before with a record finish time of 11.30am.
There was a complimentary barbeque waiting for the hardworking volunteers provided by Council and cooked by Urban Landcare. Volunteers were also able to take home a free native seedling to plant.
Several volunteer organisations in the area provided participants for this event, including Urban Landcare, South Wagga Wagga Rotary Club’s Rocky Hill Regeneration project volunteers, church groups, Girl Scouts, along with various members of the public.
The seedlings planted were specifically chosen to help the threatened Superb Parrot, a native bird species which has been declining in range and abundance for the past century.
“CSU Farm kindly offered the planting site, which is in a Superb Parrot flight path. Species that are planted today were chosen to provide feed and shelter habitat for the threatened parrot,” Ms Pascall said.
“The most significant threats to the Superb Parrot include destruction of breeding and foraging habitat through widespread clearing, land degradation and fragmentation, disturbance around breeding sites and competition for nest hollows.
“Unfortunately, a large amount of our natural areas has been cleared. It is very important to provide a safe passage for our native wildlife to move throughout our LGA to gain access to much needed resources including food, shelter, and water.”
Council specifically selected species of plants that help enhance the flight path of the Superb Parrot, including White Box and Yellow Box, Deane’s Wattle, Gold Dust Wattle, and Kangaroo Thorn.
The seedlings, once established, will create vital corridor connections for several native species to move throughout the area and to seek food and shelter.
