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    Record turnout to plant wildlife corridor

    Posted on: 16 July 2024

    Louise Belfield

    A massive community effort at a property at Bridgewater last week saw 60 volunteers turn up to plant 2,800 plants in an almost kilometre-long wildlife corridor.
    The corridor included seven rows of vegetation designed to provide shelter, food and safety to a wide range of native birds and understorey wildlife creatures on land owned by the Mibus family.
    The project funding was applied for by the Southwest Environment Alliance (SEA Landcare) through the
    Glenelg Hopkins CMA, Victorian Landcare Grants program.
    SEA Landcare facilitator, Kristy Brewer, who organised the event and also the funding for the project, was
    overwhelmed by the number of people who came out to help.
    She put a shout-out to the community some four weeks ago through a variety of media: the Observer, the SEA website, and also via fliers put up around the city.
    “Normally when I do that, I get about 25–30 people volunteer their time,” she said. “But this time I had 60
    people register, which was just fantastic. It was an incredible effort.”
    The big plant-out is meant to mark National Tree Planting Day, but the project was planted early to enable the Mibus grandchildren to be a part of the day. National Tree Day events are often delivered early as a result of the weather being so wild by July 28.
    “It was wonderful to have the three generations of the Mibus family all helping to deliver this project on the day,” Ms Brewer said.
    Essentially, the project is “a big pollinator highway in the Bridgewater landscape”.
    “We had a tractor attachment that the landowner had borrowed that we weren’t actually expecting to have for the event, and so we were able to put the plants in with this machine incredibly fast.
    “We had lots of people come along simply interested in doing projects… in seeing how it’s all done, finding out what species we use, and connecting with like-minded people.”
    The species planted out included Brown Stringybark, Moonah, Blackwattle, Blackwood, Prickly Moses, and
    some native grasses, Ms Brewer said.
    “Animals trying to move through the landscape will almost definitely use that area in the future as that
    vegetation grows.
    “It’s almost a kilometre of fantastic movement for wildlife which will also act as a stepping stone between the Bridgewater lakes, Tarragal Caves and the coastal reserve vegetation.
    “From a Landcare and biodiversity point of view, it’s really about improving the connectivity in the landscape,” Ms Brewer said.
    The Mibus family were spurred on to do the project when a neighbouring property harvested their blue gum plantation and they noticed immediately a huge difference to the conditions in their paddocks, Ms Brewer said.
    “It was very exposed to that southwest wind…so the project was about improving the amenity as well as
    improving the conditions for the stock of the pasture; just making it a nicer place to be working.”
    Rotary was on hand to provide a barbeque lunch and coffee for the volunteers.
    But the old tractor attachment to help plant the trees was “a game-changer”, Ms Brewer said. It had been sitting unused for years and needed a bit of maintenance, but it was “fantastic”.
    “Essentially, it’s got a wheel inside it and a seat on the back for the planter…there are three trays for the plants to sit on which to planter can reach easily, the wheel rotates through the middle of the attachment, and you basically just drop the trees in after it digs each hole. The tree goes in, and then somebody walks behind the machine to push the dirt in around them.
    “When I draft these projects up for landowners, I’m careful not to give people too many trees to plant, because people don’t realise how difficult it is for one family to plant 1000 trees. But this tractor attachment certainly changes everything.”
    “We were able to guard those 2,800 trees in three hours with 58 helpers. The machine did the tree planting, and all we had to do was go along and put the guards in and water.”
    “My college on the day crunched the maths on the number of volunteers plus the hours put into the project, it equates to one person working for four weeks by themselves as opposed to 60 people working together for 3
    hours”. The topography at the Mibus property “is enormous, so it was a tough day out, but it was good fun”, Ms Brewer said. “And once people have done one project, they just want to do more. It’s such a rewarding process for the landowners, because of all the different species coming in and using this vegetation.
    “We really do start to see the benefits to wildlife quite quickly. Shrub loving species like the Brown Thornbill and Superb Fairy-wrens will move in quick quickly and as the vegetation matures other species like honeyeaters, Pardalote and Robins will come… We have included prickly understorey species in the planting mix, so once the area thickens up there’ll be suitable places for small birds to build nests, the flowering species will provide foraging areas for different pollinators to access pollen and nectar…native bees and moths, hover flies, beetles and the honeyeaters will all benefit.
    “We’ll see lots of other species moving into these areas within five years, which is really exciting.”
    SEA is looking to grow its army of supporters and its executive committee.
    “We need a new generation of dedicated Landcarer’s, we are very interested in hearing from people in the
    community who don’t necessarily have land but are interested in supporting and leading Landcare in the
    southwest.
    “We don’t need you to have a farm to be involved. We need people who care about the environment and who have an interest in being active members of a committee. We are very interested in connecting with people who have leadership skills, secretarial skills and or sponsorship experience.
    Interested people can find out more at https://sealliance.org.au/wildlife-habitat-fund/ or call Kristy Brewer on 0413 718 875.

    Photo credit: Raz Brewer

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