More than 120 volunteers turned out at Glenaroua Station over the weekend of June 20 and 21 to put 3500 native trees and shrubs into the ground along Kurkuruc Creek, in the Glenaroua Land Management Group’s biggest planting effort of the year.
The rain that made the weekend such hard going is precisely why the work matters.
Kurkuruc Creek, like many waterways in the district, is prone to erosion in high rainfall bursts.
Fencing off the creek and re-vegetating its banks with local native species creates a living buffer: the trees and grasses filter nutrients and sediment before they reach the water, bind the soil against erosion and protect the creek as habitat — all while the surrounding country keeps working as a farm.
GLMG president Paul Fleming said the weekend also marked another chapter in a much longer story.
“With the commitment of the Glenaroua Landcare Group’s 60 members and the hundreds of volunteers, the biodiversity of the landscape in this region has been vitally enhanced for more than a quarter of a century through its annual tree planting project,” Mr Fleming said.
Glenaroua Station, one of Victoria’s oldest pastoral properties, is today home to the fine-wool Merino operation of Burgess Rural.
Managing director Jan Evans, who hosted the weekend, said the family had planted close to 20,000 trees across its properties over the years.
“We’re protecting all our waterways, reducing the erosion, and the ecosystems, the birds, the wildlife,” Ms Evans said
“It’s a good thing to do, so we try to do it on all our properties — and we can’t do it without the volunteers.”
Saturday’s crew assembled 3500 tree guards and put the first 500 trees in, near the shearing shed.
Sunday was the main event, with 3000 more planted further upstream.
The Pajero 4WD Club, at the farm for the third year running, ferried volunteers through the mud and ran the logistics, while students from East Doncaster Secondary turned out in remarkable numbers.
Volunteers were kept fed by GLMG members and the enthusiastic Southern Mitchell Rotarians.
Behind the weekend sat grant funding from Inland Rail and the Community Bank, tubestock through TreeProject and the Goulburn Broken CMA, and a local Landcare group to pull it all together — and almost none of it landed on the landholder’s desk.
For farmers and rural property owners, Landcare membership opens the door to grants, plants and a willing volunteer workforce for exactly this kind of work.
Tree planting along creek buffer zones is one of the best projects going — it combines real environmental gains with productivity benefits for farmers.
The South West Goulburn Landcare Network thanks Inland Rail, the Community Bank, the Southern Mitchell Rotarians, TreeProject, the Goulburn Broken CMA and the Pajero 4WD Club for making the weekend possible.
Get involved by contacting 0409 515 630 or swglandcare@gmail.com
– Luca Brew
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