YEAR 3 students from St Mary’s Primary School helped plant native trees along Kiamma Creek on Friday with teacher Larry O’Kane, Haydn Burgess of Greening Australia, Mary Bonet from Rivers of Carbon, and Barry Murphy of Kiamma Creek Landcare.
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They planted silver and blackwood wattles, river bottlebrush, tea brush, snow gums and black sallee trees.
In 2013, it had been St Mary’s year 4 children who planted trees, but this time it was the turn of year 3, with plantings along the rivers edge of silver and blackwood wattles, river bottlebrush and tea brush, and snow gum and black sallee trees as part of a trial to see which will do best in our local conditions. The previous tree planting had used pink plastic guards which not only protected from strong winds but also the colour pink is believed to enhance plant growth by concentrating photosynthesis. This time Haydn provided bio degradable cartons, which will break down and degrade over time or if washed away in a flood.
Barry Murphy said “ the mix of trees will more likely reflect what was here over 200 years ago.” Follow up care will be provided by KCL members. Those who assisted Barry on the day were Mark Kerrigan, David Colquhoun, Tony Gosling and Malcolm Barlow.
The trees and shrubs will not just benefit local bird species, with native vegetation along the banks of the creek providing leaf litter and plant debris which will increase aquatic insect and other invertebrate number which in turn become food for species like fish and platypus. Any future fallen branches will provide the necessary snags and sunken logs of a natural river ecosystem, without the thick matting of willow roots that can choke waterways, deplete oxygen and smother wildlife habitat.
Studies are revealing a positive correlation between the occurrence of native plant species along waterways and the presence of native wildlife such as platypus. This was confirmed at Kiamma Creek when a rather large platypus turned up to thank the kids for their efforts!
Environmental awareness raising activities such as those at Kiamma Creek, encourage local children to take an interest in nature and feel part of their local community in a practical way. GA provided the plants and tree guards as part of the 20 Million Trees program supporting the Crookwell Community Connectivity Challenge. This continues GA’s ongoing commitment to encouraging the planting of native trees on farms to aid sustainable agriculture, provide shelter belts for stock, corridors for wildlife and the bringing back of bird species that have been in decline or disappearing from our rural landscapes.
As well as connecting the children with nature, these plantings and the restoration of our river ecosystems are part of the larger connectivity approach provided by programs like Rivers of Carbon. ROC is supported by GA, Upper Lachlan Landcare and South East Local Land Services and is connecting and building on past tree plantings along our waterways by many individuals and groups. For more information on ROC come along to the Goulburn Club, Market St, Goulburn on Wednesday 26th October 4pm-6.30 pm.
