When I was young I never thought much about knocking down a tree. I grew up in a cool shady Perth suburb, playing in the tree lined streets and green leafy parks. The trees were noisy with the sounds of birds, insects and children. The eucalypts were often visited by black cockatoos squawking raucously as they munched on the honky nuts. Trees were our second home with cubby houses, swings, nuts and berries to eat. One less tree would not have been noticeable.
Over the past 40 years one less tree has exponentially increased to tens of thousands of less trees and now many of the new suburbs of Perth are devoid of anything green taller than 3 metres. The ruthless clearing of new developments has left a profound silence. No birds, no lizards or insects, nothing but concrete, paving and sand.
Last year I decided I would do something proactive rather than being angry and upset by the continued clearing of trees from the land. I applied to the State National Resource Management (NRM) Program for a Community Stewardship grant for the Project ‘Gumnuts for Zanda’ and was very fortunate to be one of the 111 applicants who received funding out of 253.
Developed in conjunction with Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Conservation Centre, ‘Gumnuts for Zanda’ is a revegetation project to re-establish native habitat for Black Cockatoos on two hectares of disused orchard in Martin. First the land will be cleared of remnant citrus trees, and then the area will be fenced to protect the seedlings from kangaroo and livestock. The ground will be raked and weeds removed to prepare for new plantings of marri, jarrah and banksia. I plan to plant 3000 seedlings this winter that will grow over the next 20 years to provide food and shelter for the Carnaby’s, Baudin’s and Forest Red-Tailed Black Cockatoos who migrate to the area annually.
The Project aims to turn this empty block of land (left) into a revegatated area (right):
It will take hundreds of volunteer hours and the expertise of staff from Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Conservation Centre; most importantly it could not be achieved without the financial support from the Western Australian Government’s State NRM Program. I’m very excited to undertake this project. For those of you who want to make a difference for our black cockatoos and wish to have a pivotal role in this revegetation project please contact Cathy at savingaspecies@kaarakin.com. You can follow this project on Kaarakin Instagram and Facebook.
In May, our Education Officer, Candice Leroux, brought a group 25 students from ECU and together, they planted 100 plants. This is in addition to the ones that are going in the fenced area.
