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A long-term vision to restore native vegetation on Myall Park has become part of a wider celebration of environmental action, with Weddin Landcare launching its 30 Trees for 30 Years initiative.
Melanie Cooper alongside husband Stephen Cooper recently opened up their property for a community tree planting weekend as part of their ongoing revegetation project.
The Coopers have been steadily planting trees across their farm in aims of creating biodiversity corridors, shelter belts and habitat links aimed at improving both environmental and farming outcomes.
“We’ve got a 10 to 15-year plan of putting trees back into our farm,” Melanie said.
“It’s for biodiversity, but also for stock and crop protection and shelter.”
The project is entirely self-funded, with the family planting more than 1,000 trees each year.
Melanie, who works with Weddin Landcare, decided that this year their annual planting could also tie into Weddin Landcare’s 30-year celebration.
“Weddin Landcare has been operating for 30 years, so we thought we’d try and celebrate that and spark a bit more interest in Landcare again.
“The idea behind 30 Trees for 30 Years is to encourage people to start planting trees back into the landscape.”
While Landcare was originally heavily focused on revegetation, Melanie said the organisation’s work had expanded significantly over the decades.
“We do everything from sustainable farming to school education, community gardens, waste reduction, water management and land management issues,” she said.
“But we wanted to take it back to our roots a little bit and encourage more tree planting in the district.”
The community planting weekend attracted around eight volunteers, along with members of the Cooper family who planted 870 trees.
Local high school students were also due to attend before rain forced a postponement, although Melanie said the wet weather was welcome.
“The trees got a nice watering in, so we’ll take that instead,” she said.
The planting focused on reconnecting two native vegetation communities, inland grey box and weeping myall woodland, using species naturally suited to the area’s heavier clay soils.
Among the species planted were grey box, weeping myall, several native wattles including coobah and river coobah, as well as saltbush, hop bush, needlewood and rosewood.
“We wanted a whole range of species with diversity."
She said planting local native species was important not only for wildlife habitat, but also for long-term success.
“They naturally occur here, so they’ll survive better in our local soils and climate conditions and support our local flora and fauna,” Melanie said.
Several Weddin Landcare members have already committed to planting their own 30 trees as part of the anniversary initiative, with the group encouraging more residents to get involved.
For those who missed this year’s planting season, orders are already open for 2027 through the Grenfell Community Native Nursery, where volunteers propagate local native species for revegetation projects.
Melanie said community members interested in future planting days or volunteering opportunities are encouraged to become involved with Weddin Landcare.
“There’s often private and publicly funded projects happening around the district.
“If people would like to volunteer or become members, they can get in touch with us," Melanie said.