A project spearheaded by Koala Clancy Foundation has planted 1000 ‘koala trees’ on the northern slopes of the You Yangs to help the species thrive.
The trees were planted by 50 volunteers on Sunday July 31 and finalised a huge three-year project.
The volunteers included City of Greater Geelong Councillors Anthony Aitken, Belinda Moloney and Ron Nelson, alongside a host of keen tree planters.
Koala expert Janine Duffy said a total of 8987 koala habitat trees have been planted by Koala Clancy Foundation at the Mount Rothwell Homestead property since 2020.
“The trees planted include river red gum, red box, yellow box and the endangered Melbourne yellow gum,” she said.
“The planting can be seen from Little River-Ripley Road, near Mount Rothwell Road.
“Volunteers from Melbourne, Geelong, Sydney and Canberra planted 1000 trees in record time.
“After we finished planting, we walked through the trees planted in 2020 and 2021. Some of the two-year old trees are already big enough to feed a koala.
“The group then took a walk in the You Yangs to see the koalas that will benefit from this planting.”
Funding for the massive planting came from a City of Greater Geelong Environmental Sustainability Grant in 2021, and from the Tourism Authority of Thailand in 2021 and 2022.
Thailand’s Ambassador to Australia, the honourable Ms Busadee Santipitaks, was one of the volunteers.
“It was wonderful to see how passionate and dedicated Janine Duffy, president of the Koala Clancy Foundation, has been to protect and create a habitat for koalas,” the ambassador said.
Staff members from the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Royal Thai Embassy flew down from Sydney and Canberra for the special planting day.
Go to koalaclancyfoundation.org.au/ to get involved in a tree planting.
More information: koalaclancyfoundation.org.au/ongoing-project-you-yangs-north/
