| image: "Kosciuszko1.jpg" | image: "Kosciuszko2.jpg" | image: "Kosciuszko3.jpg" |
| Planted: Size: Location: Species: Eucalyptus blakelyi | 2008-2009 300 ha NSW
Acacia doratoxylon |
The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) celebrated with Greenfleet the progress of an ambitious rehabilitation project being undertaken in Kosciuszko National Park in October 2008. The revegetation program was marked with a community tree planting day on the foreshores of Blowering Dam, south of Tumut, NSW.
On the day members of Greenfleet, The Department of Environment and Climate Change (Bogong Riverina Highlands Area), NPWS, Transgrid, Medicare Australia and a few members of the local community were on hand to help with the task of replanting.
NPWS South West Slopes Regional Manager, Steve Horsley said that Greenfleet and Transgrid have been the driving forces behind the rehabilitation project.
"With the financial support of Transgrid and Greenfleet, we will be able to plant out almost 300 hectares and 350,000 trees within two years", Mr Horsley said.
The planting site has a strong history and heritage among local Indigenous communities. During the site preparations the workers re-discovered parts of the traditional Indigenous highways where traditional owners on all sides of the Alps would migrate to the Alpine areas to feast on Bogong moths in the summer months.
The Greenfleet sites are being spot planted by the traditional owners to preserve historical artefacts and in respect of traditional pathways. On the day the volunteers received a welcoming ceremony by Margaret Berg, the Chairperson of the Brungle/Tumut Local Aboriginal Land Council from the Wiradjuri Indigenous community. She expressed her appreciation of the revegetation project and hoped that the land would become a beautiful place for future generations to visit.
Located at Log Bridge in Kosciusko's National Park, 15 kilometres South of Tumut, east of the Snowy Mountains Highway and bordered by Cliffords Creek trail to the north, the site is majestically located right in the heart of a truly special part of Australia.
The Blowering Foreshores was included as part the original declaration of Kosciuszko National Park in 1967. Prior to becoming national park this land was cleared and used for agriculture, primarily grazing. After grazing eased, weed, pest animal and kangaroo populations increased rapidly. A combination of these factors, combined with prior land use has meant that natural regeneration of the foreshores has been extremely slow and sporadic.
Kangaroo populations in the area are extremely high and to assist the revegetation process, the site is protected by 12km of fencing funded by Greenfleet, which helps protect the seedlings from grazing. After two years when the trees have reached a less vulnerable place, the fence will be removed.
Mr Horsley said the project was a very significant step forward in what has been a long term plan to return native vegetation to the area.
"It has always been a management challenge but one which has relied heavily on the goodwill of many local residents who have assisted us with voluntary labour on annual tree planting days.
"Importantly the Greenfleet contribution has been raised as the result of other companies and individuals contributing money to offset carbon generating activities.
"This is very important to the overall environmental health of the area. The absence of native vegetation on the foreshores encourages weeds and soil erosion and rehabilitation will encourage the return of a diverse range of native wildlife which in turn will help to mend an ecosystem which has long since been disturbed."