THE weather was atrocious, the paddocks were boggy, and still they came.
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 (GLMG) biggest planting effort of the year.
Glenaroua Station is one of Victoria’s oldest pastoral properties, today home to the fine-wool Merino operation of Burgess Rural, a family-owned farming business on the land since 1979 that now manages more than 9000 hectares across Victoria and the Riverina.
Managing Director Jan Evans hosted the weekend, and says the family has planted close to 20,000 trees and put in many kilometres of fencing across its properties over the years.
“The place is looking better and better every time we do it,” Evans said.
“We’re protecting all our waterways, reducing the erosion, and the ecosystems, the birds, the wildlife. It’s a nice balance. It’s a good thing to do, so we try to do it on all our properties. You can’t do it all at once, but there’s a plan, progressively — and we can’t do it without the volunteers.”
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,” said GLMG President Paul Fleming.
Saturday’s crew assembled 3500 tree guards, sorted seedlings into planting trays and put the first 500 trees in near the shearing shed. Sunday was the main event, with 3000 more planted further upstream. Keeping everyone moving through the mud was the Pajero 4WD Club, led by its president, Mel, who for the third year running made the farm the headquarters for a weekend of four-wheel driving — ferrying volunteers across the paddocks, hauling vehicles out of bogs and running the logistics of the whole event.
Students from East Doncaster Secondary turned out in remarkable numbers, adding plenty of young energy to the planting lines. Pumpkin soup from Lyn, sandwiches from Sue and a barbecue by the GLMG kept Saturday fed, while the enthusiastic Southern Mitchell Rotarians catered smoko and lunch on Sunday.
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.
“Tree planting along creek buffer zones is one of the best projects going — it combines real environmental gains with productivity benefits for farmers who want to boost their land’s ecological health,” said Landcare Facilitator Luca Brew.
“Events like this bring the goals of environmentalists and primary producers together.”
