Narrandera Landcare had a very rewarding week of planting at Narrandera Wetlands, cumulating with 300 seedlings being planted on National Tree Day, Sunday 26 July.

Five school groups also came down during the week and planted, tree guarded, watered in and then mulched about 500 seedlings.

Spokesman for Narrandera Landcare, Glenn Currie, said: “With up to 150 school kids coming down to plant this year, we had to do things a bit differently. We did some pretty thorough ground preparation by scalping the planting areas hopefully removing the Lippia weed. Then we got the kids to plant groundlayer plants close together. With the scalping, tree guards and mulching these little saltbushes, lilies and daisies have every chance to get off to a good start.”

On the Sunday, the seedlings planted were mainly trees and shrubs. About 20 people helped plant on the day. All the seedlings were propagated by Narrandera Landcare at the Community Food Garden located in the Showgrounds.

“Our volunteers propagated around 2000 seedlings this year. Many landholders from Rankins Springs to Sandigo took up our offer of planting locally native species and again we were able to supply schools from Hillston, Lake Cargelligo, Rankins Springs, Griffith and Whitton-Murrami to help their students take part in National Tree Day. Our volunteers are thrilled seeing their efforts benefitting such a wide area,” Mr Currie said.

“We receive a lot of corporate support for our endeavours. Peter and Josie from Narrandera Pizzeria have been donating pizzas for our National Tree Day planters for seven years now.

“Leeton Toyota have been helping us for a similar amount of time, and Landcare Australia awarded us a grant for tree guards to provide with our seedlings to landholders. All their support has been incredible and much appreciated.”