Take action for the environment on National Tree Day
19 July 2019
Event will add to the tally of 15,000 trees already planted on the Tweed
Join in to help the environment and be part of your community as part of a Planet Ark National Tree Day event at Chillingham on Sunday 28 July.
New research through Plant Ark has found that 70 per cent of Australians believe individual actions can have an impact on global environmental issues like climate change.
On top of this, the benefits of planting trees include:
• a five per cent increase in tree cover can reduce nearby daytime temperatures by 2.3C, which could be crucial as heatwaves cost more lives than all other climate change impacts combined
• a large healthy tree can sequester up to 93kg of CO2 and 1.4kg of air pollution a year
• time spent in green outdoor spaces can lower the risk of heart disease and diabetes
• time in nature reduces stress, improves happiness, wellbeing and productivity
Mayor of Tweed, Katie Milne, urged Tweed residents to come along to National Tree Day at Chillingham to take action for the environment and the community.
“Revegetation makes a positive contribution to tackle the global challenge of climate change, and also improves water quality and biodiversity,” Councillor Milne said.
“This planting will bolster the efforts of Chillingham Landcare and Chillingham Community Centre volunteers who have worked for many years to restore over one kilometre of riparian vegetation on the Rous River and its tributaries.”
Bring along your family, gardening gloves and tools along to restore important vegetation along the bank of the Rous River next to the Chillingham Community Centre from 9am to 1pm on Sunday 28 July.
The event will kick off a week of activities designed to showcase and celebrate the work and services Council provides to our community as part of Local Government Week.
“Tweed Shire Council has joined forces with Tweed Landcare to host local National Tree Day events for the last 14 years as part of our commitment to protect and enhance the Tweed’s internationally-significant environment and respond to the challenges of climate change,” Councillor Milne said.
“In that time, volunteers at National Tree Day events have planted an estimated 15,000 trees on river and creek banks across the Tweed.”
Planting holes will be pre-dug and staked, however, volunteers are asked to bring planting tools, a wheelbarrow or tub and mulch fork or shovel for spreading mulch and some morning tea to share. Tea, coffee, drinking water and snacks will be provided.
The event is family friendly and disability accessible. Register at treeday.planetark.org/site/10021737
For more information on the event, contact Council’s Project Officer - Waterways, Matthew Bloor on (02) 6670 2580 or mbloor@tweed.nsw.gov.au For more information on Local Government Week events, visit www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/LGWK
Downloads
Photo 1(JPG, 272KB)
Caption: The O’Hare family spent time together volunteering the plant trees at a previous National Tree Day event on the Tweed.
Photo 2(JPG, 217KB)
Caption: Volunteer Carolyn Rifello at the National Tree Day event at Pat Smith Park in 2017.