Students, staff and community planted native trees, shrubs and grasses at Corowa Public School last Friday in celebration of Planet Ark’s Schools Tree Day.
The inclusion of native trees at the site will assist to create habitat and green corridors to attract birds and the endangered squirrel gliders that live in the Murray River habitat adjacent to the school.
As a keen gardener Christine Munro, the school’s project manager, understands the importance of giving students an opportunity to get involved in developing the area they have been care taking for over 20 years.
Christine said the school’s gardens provide hands-on experience for students to learn about sustainable gardening practices and make connections to the natural world.
These nature care efforts are being made possible by a grant from Planet Ark’s Seedling bank program in the lead up to the organisation’s National Tree Day campaign. The program launched in 2019 with the goal of supplying native seedlings to schools and community groups participating in National Tree Day activities across the country.
“The Seedling Bank is our way of giving back to the thousands of Australian volunteers who roll up their sleeves each year to give something back to the environment as part of National Tree Day,” Planet Ark CEO Rebecca Gilling said.
“We have already directly supported over 132 groups in their efforts to plant almost 80,000 native trees, shrubs and grasses since the program’s inception.”
Thanks to the grant from The Seedling Bank, the school has been able to include a range of trees, shrubs and grass varieties not available to the school in the past. This planting will create canopy and understorey growth to further provide for native birds, wildlife and insects that inhabit the area.
Schools Tree Day (July 28) and National Tree Day (July 30) are Australia’s largest annual tree-planting and nature care events, with plantings taking place across the country on the last weekend of July. Due to rainfall, Corowa Public School postponed their event to August 4.
National Tree Day is an initiative organised by Planet Ark in partnership with major sponsor Toyota Australia and its Dealer Network. For more information and to find events in your local area, please visit treeday.planetark.org.