Geraldton aims to plant one million trees

The Goodness Festival’s reach is far and wide and the Million Trees project has jumped on board to celebrate all that is good about greening our planet, well, Greater Geraldton at least.

To plant a million trees was the number one community aspiration from World Cafes held by the City of Greater Geraldton in 2010, and the momentum continues apace with more than 130,100 trees planted and accounted for to date.

A mammoth effort has been put in by Midwest Ports who have recently planted 1600 along Marine Terrace near the wharf.

City Coordinator Community Engagement, Janell Kopplhuber, said the City has been helping the community keep count of trees being planted in the city region through an online registration form.

“The City has created a registration form on our website so that anyone who has planted a tree can register it towards the million,” she said.

“We know lots of people plant trees and shrubs all the time, we just haven’t been told about them yet.”

The Million Trees project will have a presence at the Goodness Festival Expo on Saturday August 23, at the Queen Elizabeth II Seniors and Community Centre in Geraldton, where people can register to get involved as every tree planted counts towards the target and can be registered on the ‘make your tree count’ page on the City’s website.

The community has embraced this project and many successful corporate and community planting days have resulted in some interesting statistics and support, including more than 350 people and 900 volunteer hours committed to the goal.

Ms Kopplhuber said volunteers have been across the board from industry, corporate organisations, community and school students.

“It has been a fantastic effort and some of the students were at many of the community tree planting days,” she said.

“The City does revegetation work each year and this year alone volunteers have helped us to plant a total of 4,508 seedling stems along the Chapman River Wildlife Corridor.”

The average amount of seedlings planted per hour was five – fertilised, tree-guarded and watered, all contributing to the tally.

“Volunteers spent an amazing 9000 hours planting seedlings this year and if we were to calculate the value of these hours it amounts to almost $180,000 worth of volunteer time,” said Ms Kopplhuber.

Ms Kopplhuber encourages everyone who plants a seedling, bush or tree to add it to the Million Trees counter and register their interest in attending future volunteer tree plantings by visiting the City’s website or Million Trees Facebook.

More information on the Goodness Sustainability and Innovation Festival which runs from August 15-31 can be found at www.goodness.org.au