Victoria’s Best Masterplanned Community award-winner Woodlea is preparing for its sixth consecutive Community Tree Planting Day on Sunday 28th July.
Working with local environment not-for-profit ‘We Love Aintree’ in partnership with several local community groups, including Caroline Springs & Aintree Scout Groups, Aintree SES, Caroline Springs RSL, and the Aintree Multicultural Group, the event will see participation from 200-300 volunteers, who will plant around 3,000 native grasses and saltbush at the Aintree Reserve.
These locally sourced plants will help revegetate the reserve into a natural habitat for small lizards, skinks, insects and birds. The plants will require minimal maintenance, but will provide maximum environmental benefits.
Woodlea’s partnership with We Love Aintree highlights their shared long-term commitment to sustainability, with 30% of the community dedicated to green open space. The latest planting campaign on National Tree Day will take We Love Aintree’s total contribution to over 16,000 plants put in the ground with the community and schools in Aintree since 2019.
Partnering with Woodlea for the sixth year in a row, director of We Love Aintree, Jono Ingram says, “Woodlea’s commitment to supporting community engagement, which provides genuine environmental outcomes, assists our organisation to create long-term, sustainable projects, which will benefit communities and local wildlife into the future. For vulnerable grasslands and waterways, a commitment to sustainability and community engagement is crucial in the protection and restoration of our natural assets.”
This is a plastic-free, minimum waste event, which seeks to educate the community about environmental issues and decisions they can make to better protect the environment. This year will also mark the first time that volunteers from the recently established Friends of Kororoit Grasslands will help with some of the site preparation.
“We are thrilled to bring volunteers and locals together to continue making a meaningful contribution to our community and its local ecosystem,” Woodlea project director Matthew Dean says.
“Community participation is the key to the success and impact of this event. By working together, we can help restore native vegetation and improve biodiversity in the local area, creating habitat for native wildlife and a greener, more sustainable community for future generations,” Dean adds.
