Bush Crew diaries August 2024

Published on 22 July 2024

National Tree Day is a big occasion for Banyule’s volunteer community. Each year the Bush Crew chooses a few sites to undergo a large-scale planting event with help from our volunteer groups. This is always an exciting day and there are typically above average numbers of volunteers attending.

This year, our National Tree Day event is at Rosanna Parklands with the Friends of Salt Creek, where we are prepared to reintroduce upwards of 500 plants. The area we have chosen was first planted back in 2022 and has since seen a remarkable improvement in its habitat value. One of the larger trees we have planted in this area has been the Black She-oak (Allocasuarina littoralis), a pine-like native species that features numerous cylindrical, woody cones.

These trees, once fully established, will act as a food source for a variety of birds that inhabit the area including Gang-Gangs and Yellow-Tailed Black cockatoos. Despite the name National Tree Day, it isn’t all about the trees. Several flowering shrubs and sedges will also be planted throughout this creek-line grassy woodland to fulfil the various roles that different lifeforms of plants offer in this environment.

Planting a range of different lifeforms creates a revegetated habitat that more closely mimics a naturally occurring one. The site we have chosen to conduct this event also features some remnant trees, including a beautiful old River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), which helps to add to the natural feel of this revegetation site. With months of weed control and site preparation behind us we are now in a favourable position for another successful restorative planting event on Sunday 28 July.