Murray Darling Rescue

 

National Sponsor,
Murray Darling Rescue




 

 


Thanks to Greenfleet's subscribers, our supporters and Scouts Australia, new forests are being planted each year in Australia's largest river system, the Murray Darling Basin.

2007 Murray Darling Rescue Plantings

MDR South Australia, Wellington 23-24 June 2007: 17,000 trees

MDR Victoria, Seymour 19 August 2007: 6,000 trees

Volunteer for other MDR plantings

 

 

Murray Darling Rescue is Greenfleet's largest tree planting project. It is an ongoing partnership with Scouts Australia, which aims to help bring life back to the Murray Darling by planting millions of native trees.

Every Australian knows  the once Mighty Murray is in trouble. Massive clearing of vegetation and an ever-increasing demand for water has caused a huge salinity problem that threatens to destroy the land and make the water unfit for human consumption. Such is the demand on water resources that in 2000 this once-raging torrent totally ceased to flow. In 2003, two thousand tonnes of salt reached the Murray mouth every day (source: Murray Darling Basin Commission), which is equivalent to 82 semi-trailer loads of salt.

While issues surrounding the health of the Murray are complex, everyone agrees that we need to modify our irrigation practices, increase river flows and undertake a massive re-vegetation program.

 

The theme for Murray Darling Rescue is 'Halt The Salt'. Since 2001, more than 960,000 trees have been planted by Scouts and volunteers in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.

 

While this is but a drop in the ocean compared with what is ultimately needed, Murray Darling Rescue provides a start point to rally the Australian community to help revegetate this great Australian icon.

 

The Murray plays an integral part in Australian society and economics. With its major tributaries – the Darling, Murrumbidgee and Goulburn – the Murray drains one-seventh of the Australian landmass. The river system supports 40 percent of the nation’s agricultural production - our food - amounting to $10 billion annually, it quenches the thirst of more than one million South Australians, and helps to generate electricity for New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory.


 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above: Murray Darling Rescue's tireless Ambassador, marathon swimmer Tammy Van Wisse. In 2002, she became the first person in the world to swim the entire length of the Murray River, an incredible feat which helped to focus attention on the river. "I have seen the Murray from the source to the sea - I was immersed in it for 106 days during my swim," she says. "The importance of protecting and conserving this mighty river for future generations is something that I am really passionate about. Murray Darling Rescue is showing that individuals - the community - really can make a difference towards a bright and sustainable future."

 

 

 

Murray Darling Rescue plantings are held annually in NSW, Vic, SA and the ACT. MDR began with a series of major plantings in 2001:

 

Murray Bridge, South Australia August 11th & 12th 2001

 

The project commenced with a buzz of activity at Scout Headquarters in Adelaide on Friday. Ambassador for the project, marathon swimmer Tammy Van Wisse, flew in from Melbourne along with Lisa Standing, who was a house-mate in Channel 10's 'Big Brother' series. They did numerous radio interviews and photo shoots to promote the project with the local media.

 

Following a downpour on Friday evening we were greeted with a fine day on Saturday.  There were two planting sites, one at the Army Range and a second at Lake Alexandrina, ready for the 650 Scouts and families who were arriving to plant the trees.

 

At 11:00am the Minister for Water Resources and honorary Scout Commissioner, the Hon Mark Brindle MP arrived in his Scout uniform to represent the Premier. TV stations 9, 2 and then 7 in their helicopter all arrived together with local press so it was quite the papparazi frenzy!

 

Following the formal launch of the project the volunteers headed out into the paddock with their pottiputkis, trees, guards and ‘Goo’ for planting!

 

Many thanks to the Murray Bridge Rifle Range for their support of the project.

 

Wagga Wagga, New South Wales August

16,17,18 & 19th 2001

 

Planting commenced with local school groups on the Thursday and Friday. Seventeen schools in all participated in the plantings. A big thank you to local Rotary who helped manage the school groups on site. The school children participated as part of their environmental studies, and worked very hard to plant thousands of trees. They completed most of the smaller sites leaving the major sites for the weekend.

 

Local Scouts and Scouts from Sydney, the North Coast and the South Coast and Tablelands regions arrived on Friday ready for planting over the weekend.

 

We had terrific support from St John Ambulance service who attended all sites over the four days, and the Country Women’s Association who also provided tea and coffee for the weary planters over the weekend. We were a little unlucky with the weather in Wagga as we had torrential rain Friday night that continued to bring intermittent showers with a rather cool breeze over the weekend. Those who came were very brave and committed, and not your fair-weather tree planters!

 

We also had great support from local newspapers, radio stations and local TV in promoting the project.

 

Swan Hill, Victoria 25th & 26th August 2001

 

More than 500 volunteers descended upon the Ken Harrison Reserve in Swan Hill for tree planting and activities over the weekend. There were nine sites in all including a travelling stock route. The largest site was at a private property called Lacey’s where 6 buses arrived full of volunteers and we had 15,000 trees in the ground by lunchtime.

 

The good news is it poured rain overnight for the trees, the bad news is we couldn’t get access to the sites to plant on the Sunday. Those clay roads were treacherous; we had to use chains to get the equipment out!

 

Thank you to Pickering Transport for providing a base from which we could work during that week.

 

Greenfleet and Scouts would like to thank the Swan Hill Rural City Council, in particular Sarah Lance, Councils’ Landcare Coordinator, and the Shire of Wakool, Sue Pretty from Murakool Inc. and Claire Wilkinson.

 

Namadgi National Park, ACT  6th & 7th of October 2001

 

Marathon swimmer and Ambassador for Murray River Rescue, Tammy Van Wisse called on the local community to participate in planting trees at Namadgi National Park on 6 & 7 October 2001.

 

ACT Chief Minister Gary Humphries launched the ACT project at the Namadgi Information Centre. The Chief Minister was accompanied by ACT Murray Darling Basin Commissioner and ACT Environment Minister Hon Brendan Smyth, Dr Maxine Cooper, Executive Director of Environment ACT and other dignitaries.

 

Mr Kevin Goss, newly appointed Chairman National Dry Land Salinity Program Murray Darling Basin Commission said: "Revegetation is critically important if we are going to restore the environment of the river Murray. This planting program in Namadgi National Park is a good example of the way in which revegetation can be used to both promote biodiversity and control salinity”.

 

Chief Commissioner of Scouting in ACT, Ms Pat Boling said: “The problems with the Murray are so big, they won’t be fixed by government alone, the community needs to take action now and help to rescue the Murray. We are delighted to have Tammy Van Wisse supporting us in this ambitious project.”

 

Scouts and Greenfleet wish to thank Environment ACT, ACT Parks and Conservation Service, and NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service for their exceptional support.

 

 

THE MURRAY RIVER - HER STORIES AND SECRETS

 

We have chosen an excerpt from the Australian Geographic Book, ‘The Murray River’ written by Amanda Burdon, to give you an understanding of the magnitude of The Murray and some of its history. Greenfleet would like to thank Australian Geographic for allowing us to use this Introduction.

 

“I do not know much about gods;

but I think that the river is a strong brown god - sullen, untamed, intractable”

-T.S. Elliot, Four Quartets

 

The Ngarrindjeri people of South Australia believe the giant Cod Ponde created the Murray River. Pursued by their spirit ancestor Ngurunderi, the fish thrashed across the landscape, carving oxbows and billabongs with each desperate swish of its powerful tail. Every cod now carries an imprint not only of Ponde’s struggle but also of its own travels, the river folk say: on the inner body wall, near the stomach, is a tracery that according to legend is the tree under which the fish was spawned.

 

The Murray River is awash with stories and secrets as it flows 2,520 km from its mountain cradle to the Southern Ocean.

 

The aboriginals understood its moods best; the way it veiled itself in mist in winter, spilled lazily across the land during spring and summer floods, and sulked in pools during dry spells. They knew that the lives of the Murray valley’s plants and animals were inextricably linked with the fortunes of the river, and they respected this delicate balance.

 

The Murray’s occupation by European settlers, from the first tentative excursion across the Great Dividing Range to today’s complex river regulation, is of a very different nature. Belief in a mythical inland sea first inspired explorers Hamilton Hume and William Hovell, then urged Charles Sturt down the river in a whaleboat in 1829. Within a few decades 863,300 sq km of land was settled in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia; the pioneers having followed the river's tributaries upstream.

 

The demands made on the Murray River today are immense and often competing. Salinisation, erosion, environmental decline and land degradation have been some of the unfortunate results of human intervention. They are challenges we are only beginning to face.

 

The evolution of Australia’s greatest river system began at least 100 million years ago. Today you’ll see little evidence of its complex origins, for much of its history is secreted in sediments deep beneath the riverbed.

 

After tumbling out of the timbered mountains of the Australian Alps, the Murray flows across some of the driest terrain on one of the world’s driest continents. Fed by a catchment covering 1,061,469 km (14% of Australia’s surface area), it collects rivers flowing south from Queensland and NSW and north from Victoria in the saucer-like Murray Darling Basin, which tilts gently downwards to the west ....