“Planting trees in unproductive areas of the farm is both good for the environment and for our mental health because these areas of land that were getting eroded and looking worse each year will now start improving.”
Kalan Joyce (Farmer)
Last year (2023), we were proud to partner with One Tree Planted, whose reforestation program planted 51.9 million trees in 72 countries.
One Tree Planted is a US-based non-profit focused on restoring forests, creating habitat for biodiversity and making a positive social impact around the world.
We were lucky in recent years to receive One Tree Planted reforestation grants enabling us to undertake multiple tree planting projects across a range of locations within our NRM (Natural Resource Management) region.
In recent weeks, our environmental scientists visited one of the most recent planting sites located in the Wheatbelt’s Dumbleyung area and owned by farmer Regan Bairstow to see how the little seedlings had fared over the past 12 months following a record-breaking dry season.
Regan’s Mount Pleasant property was one of eight farms in the Dumbleyung area to undertake a tree planting project, with work coordinated by our Association Member Dumbleyung Landcare.
Across all the Dumbleyung sites, a total of 31,244 trees were planted (plus another 5,000 shrubs), chipping in on One Tree Planted’s 2023 total of 51.9 million.
Our local projects alone are predicted to deliver enormous social and economic benefits.
The Dumbleyung area was extensively cleared for farming in the latter half of last century and as a result, large areas of productive land have been lost to rising water tables and secondary salinity.
Revegetating the landscape is beneficial to farming businesses and the communities they support.
Introducing new plantings of salt tolerant species reduces the impact of salinity and helps stabilise the landscape which becomes additionally vulnerable to soil erosion from wind.
And that’s not to mention the added benefit of reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere or capturing carbon.
You can read more about our previous work to address salinity and improve biodiversity on farms by visiting our Sustainable Agriculture information hub.
You might also like to read this recent news article regarding other planting projects we’ve undertaken in recent years.
Property Owner Regan Bairstow and Dumbleyung Landcare’s Eleanor Kahlo.