Four New Nurseries Launch Across Australia for Bushfire Recovery

One Tree Planted and a coalition of local partners launch 4 new Bushfire Recovery Nurseries to continue their shared mission plant 1 million trees across Australia by 2025

With the support of One Tree Planted, the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife (FNPW), the charity partner for Australia’s National Parks, has awarded Bushfire Recovery Nursery grants to four new bushfire recovery nurseries in New South Wales and South Australia in 2021. This is a continuation of our shared mission to plant one million trees over the next five years in response to the severe impact of the 2019/2020 Australian bushfires. 

As part of a ‘Healing Our Land’ global emergency appeal, the new nurseries will propagate native seedlings and restore wildlife habitat as part of a larger effort to help Australia recover from the bushfires. In order to better acclimate seedlings and replant forests regionally, the nurseries are all located in New South Wales (NSW), the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), and South Australia (SA).

Seedlings are being established from indigenous tree species in each of the sites and planted in national parks across Australia, as well as other public and private lands that have been affected by bushfires. 

Australia Bushfire Nursery Project Video

Learn More about the 4 Nurseries established in 2021:

At their premises in Mallangaree, located in New South Wales, the Ngullingah Jugun (Our Country) Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC will establish a small nursery facility, which will propagate and harden 10,000 eucalypt and non-eucalypt flowering and fruiting species. Once planted, these valuable native trees will support iconic threatened species like the Koala, Yellow-bellied Glider and Grey-headed Flying Fox.

In addition to supporting our reforestation efforts, the nursery will provide training opportunities for Western Bundjalung people to help them become bush regenerators and land managers. Seedlings will also be offered to bushfire-affected landholders in the Gondwana Rainforest World Heritage area and NSW North Coast to encourage landscape-wide restoration.

In the town of Mount Barker (just outside the Adelaide metropolitan area in South Australia),the Mount Barker District Council will expand its nursery facility and upscale its resources to plant a total of 16,000 additional seedlings to support 35 threatened native species, with a particular focus on SA Blue Gum, Wirilda and Varnish Wattle. These seedlings will contribute to our ongoing bushfire recovery efforts in the Mount Lofty and Kangaroo Island areas and cater to volunteers working on Council projects, with many to be planted on private land.

In Newcastle, a city in New South Wales,Trees in Newcastle will expand their nursery, buiding its capacity by an additional 10,000 trees to grow a total of 33,000 native trees. These trees will support the Wollemi NP, Lower and Upper Hunter, Central Coast and Blue Mountains World Heritage Area regions.

The native tree species, including the Grey Ironbark, Forest Redgum, Spotted Gum and Black Sheoak, will support threatened species such as the Glossy Black Cockatoo, Powerful Owl, Regent Honeyeater and the Koala. 

In the Upper Shoalhaven, Upper Deua & Lake George Catchment areas in South East NSW,the Upper Shoalhaven Landcare Council will launch a five-year-in-planning community nursery program, with the capacity to grow 16,000 seedlings from 20 tree species. These include Blackwood, Brittle Gum, Ribbon Gum and Snow Gum, as well as threatened tree species like the Araluen Gum and the Mongarlowe Mallee.

Learn More About the Nurseries Established in 2020:

In October 2020, the first nursery was launched in Windsor, NSW.The grant awarded to the Hawkesbury Community Nursery extended its capacity to 45,000 trees, which will be vital in supporting the recovery of Wollemi National Park and the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. Over 80% of these sites were devastated during the 2020 bushfire season. Funding will also be allocated to provide leveling and drainage to the expanded area for water supply tanks and other essentials required for long-term productivity.

The second nursery site that launched in October 2020 is in Aranda, ACT.The grant awarded to One Tree Planted partner Greening Australia helped us extend the capacity of its current nursery by 40,000 trees, resulting in 160,000 trees. This is a major step in supporting the recovery of the South Coast to Gippsland Corridor, with funding also allocated towards upgrades to irrigation systems, nursery benches and trolleys, and essential planting supplies.

The third nursery, launched in November 2020, is located in Yankalilla, SA.The grant awarded to the District Council of Yankalilla extended the capacity of its existing community nursery by 25,000 seedlings, to plant a total of 40,000 trees. This represented a major step in supporting the recovery of the Mount Lofty to Kangaroo Island Connection and assisting with the severe bushfire vegetation recovery on Kangaroo Island. Another key focus for this community nursery is to grow the Drooping She-oak and other native plants as part of habitat and food source recovery for the Glossy Black Cockatoo. 

Twenty Five Million Trees to Restore Australia

These new nurseries are just the tip of the iceberg in our tree planting efforts to help restore Australia! In September 2020, One Tree Planted helped plant 20,000 trees in Arthursleigh in the NSW Southern Highlands, supported by landowner the University of Sydney. This planting inaugurated the start of a larger multi-year collaboration to establish an astounding 25 million native trees across Australia.

This ambitious environmental project is one of the largest in Australia’s history and is a collaboration between pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca’s global AZ Forest initiative, One Tree Planted, and the Global EverGreening Alliance’s Restore Australia program, supported by Ark2030. Local partner Greening Australia will plant five million trees per year in priority locations across Australia to reach a total of 25 million trees by 2025.

The project will cover approximately 20,000 hectares of land, equivalent to 1/4 of the land area in the city of Canberra, and create habitat for dozens of endangered species. It is estimated that collectively these trees will sequester approximately 4.25 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over a 25-year crediting period, equivalent to the emissions produced by 920,000 cars running for an entire year. 

Restoring Wildlife Habitat in Southwest Australia

Over on the other side of the continent, One Tree Planted is also involved in restoration efforts. Working with the South West Catchments Council, the peak natural resource body in the region, approximately 51,241 native trees were planted in early 2020 across nine sites.

The south west is a biodiversity hotspot. Tall native forests of jarrah, kauri and eucalyptus trees blanket this corner of Australia. Additionally, over 7,000 vascular plants occur here, almost 80% of which are endemic and found nowhere else. Many rare animals are also found in the south west, and a big focus of this planting project has been to restore habitat for endangered species.

As part of this effort, approximately 4,484 native seedlings were planted to improve habitat for the endangered Western ringtail possum, and to create a wildlife corridor for the benefit of native marsupials like the Chuditch (Western quoll) and Woylies (Brush-tailed betong), both endangered. Meanwhile, some 33,615 seedlings were planted at another site around Lake Toolibin. Located in Wheatbelt, Western Australia this RAMSAR listed wetland offers important habitat to a number of migratory birds.

In 2021, One Tree Planted is working to plant over 500,000 trees in this special region of Western Australia, including areas that were impacted by the Black Summer bushfires. 

Restoring Australia

We are so honored to be involved in these efforts to restore Australia’s forests and wildlife habitats after the tragedy of the Black Summer Bushfires - all thanks to our incredible donors. Australia has a long road to restoration ahead, but we are taking the journey together with so many strong supporters. If you would like to support these initiatives, plant a tree in Australia today.