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This article was published on Friday, 2 June, 2017. The information contained within may be out of date or inaccurate.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.

First planting day of ‘One Tree Per Child’ project held this week

Greater Shepparton City Council representatives, Murchison & District Historical Society and children and families from the Murchison Primary School and Pre-school gathered at the park to plant various native plants, seeing the children plant approximately 280 plants over the two days.

While the One Tree Per Child project is to be officially launched later this month, the goal of the project is to plant a native plant for each person aged under 18 in our municipality every year for five years.

The project was started by Olivia Newton-John and Jon Dee, the original founders of National Tree Day. Although the project is called One Tree Per Child, the majority of the species planted in Greater Shepparton will be indigenous shrubs and groundcovers that have been largely cleared from our region.

Greater Shepparton City Council Manager Environment Greg McKenzie notes that sites are currently being prepared for further community planting events at Shepparton, Mooroopna, Tatura, Dookie, Kialla Lakes, Seven Creeks and other towns and localities.

“There are 16,664 children in Greater Shepparton so we are partnering with as many schools, kindergartens, childcare centres, Landcare and community groups and local businesses that we can to help make this happen.

“Council will provide schools and Landcare Groups with free indigenous plants and the relevant equipment required. We simply need to work together to identify suitable planting locations and recruit enthusiastic volunteers to assist.

“Planting a tree is often a child’s first act of volunteering for the benefit of our entire community. We want to show our children that maintaining our environment is important, and that we want to leave our community in a better condition than what we inherited. Let’s plant a tree for every child and enjoy watching the trees grow as our children grow,” said Mr McKenzie.

Community partnerships are vital to ensure that Council meets their One Tree Per Child planting goals. Anyone interested is encouraged to contact Council and share their ideas on how they can partner together in 2017 and beyond to make Greater Shepparton a cleaner, greener community.

To discuss this exciting project further, please contact Council on 5832 9700 or check out www.greatershepparton.com.au for more information.