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This article was published on Monday, 24 July, 2023. The information contained within may be out of date or inaccurate. News articles and media releases older than 60 days are archived for future reference.

Celebrate National Tree Day with Greater Shepparton City Council and RiverConnect

National Tree Day was founded in 1996 and has since grown into Australia's largest community tree planting and nature protection event.

National Tree Day is a call to action for all Australians to put their hands in the earth and give back to their community. Since its launch in 1996 there has been 26 million trees planted across Australia, with five million volunteers donating a total of 10 million hours.

Greater Shepparton City Council Mayor, Cr Shane Sali, acknowledged the new location for this year’s event.

“It will be excellent to see our community take part in National Tree Day at the new location of Seven Creeks. Greater Shepparton was significantly impacted by the floods in October last year. Floods are a natural and vital part of a healthy environment bringing many positive impacts but the prolonged nature of last year’s flood led to some of our previous One Tree Per Child sites being negatively impacted,” he said.

“Taking part in National Tree Day assists with the flood recovery of our natural environment, and is an event that the whole family can take part in.”

Planet Ark CEO, Rebecca Gilling, said there were many proven positive outcomes of time outdoors.

“Our research clearly shows the many benefits that time outdoors in nature has for our physical and mental health, our children’s development, the liveability of our communities and the robustness of local ecosystems,” she said.

“With the simple action of planting a tree you can help cool the climate, provide homes for native wildlife and make your local community a happier and healthier place to live.”

Greater Shepparton’s free community planting day will be held at 12 Seven Creeks, Kialla from 10am until 12pm on Sunday 30 July. Registrations are required.

Residents are also invited to have a coffee and join a free barbecue lunch after the planting concludes at midday.

It's a day to venture outdoors and get to know your community, and most importantly, to have fun.

About Planet Ark

National Tree Day is an initiative organised by Planet Ark in partnership with major sponsor Toyota Australia and its Dealer Network. For more information and to find events in your local area, please visit treeday.planetark.org

Planet Ark Environmental Foundation is an Australian not-for-profit organisation with a vision of a world where people live in balance with nature. Established in 1992, it is one of Australia’s leading environmental behaviour change organisations with a focus on working collaboratively and positively. Planet Ark promotes and creates simple, positive environmental actions – for everyone.