National Tree Day: Mooroopna residents can breathe a little easier after planting day

Aug 1, 2022

Hammer time: Ben Milzewski and Louise Almond with their son Arlo Milzewski, 2. Photo by Megan Fisher

Young, old and those in-between joined together on Sunday to get their hands dirty for National Tree Day.

Greater Shepparton City Council and RiverConnect, with assistance from Shepparton Mooroopna Urban Landcare Group, set up Mooroopna’s 22 Huggard Dve to receive a healthy serving of approximately 1300 new trees.

“We would also like to thank the community who did an exceptional job planting 1300 plants in only an hour,” Greater Shepparton City Council manager sustainability and environment Sharon Terry said.

“We very much thank them for braving the cold windy weather to help our local environment.“

Co-founded by Olivia Newton-John and Jon Dee in 1996, National Tree Day is a call to action for Australians to give back.

Each year, about 300,000 people come together to give their time to the cause, to educate and engage in environmental activities.

Since its establishment, there have been almost 26 million trees planted across Australia, with five million volunteers giving a total of 10 million hours.

The pair also founded the One Tree Per Child initiative, which Shepparton took in its stride, hitting a global milestone in planting the largest number of trees.

This new planting area will complement previous revegetation at the site undertaken as part of the One Tree Per Child Program.

Community, industry and school groups can express their interest in holding their own tree planting session run by council next planting season.