Tree day in Brooker Park

Students from Bona Vista Primary School and St Paul’s Anglican Grammar junior school participated in National Tree Day activities in Warragul’s Brooker Park recently.

Bona Vista students continued efforts to plant trees in the park, with this year’s tree planting on the western side of the park following a tree planting effort on the eastern side of the park last year.

Local businesses donated shirts and gloves to the students, while Baw Baw Shire staff assisted with equipment.

Brooker Park had been selected as a location due to its environmental importance, with the park running along Hazel Creek and providing habitat for several threatened species.

Efforts to revegetate the area to improve habitat, water quality and to increase biodiversity continued with Baw Baw Shire hosting a planting day.

The plantings added to the revegetation works undertaken over the past two years.

Each year about 3000 preschools, kindergartens, primary and high schools across Australia take part in Schools Tree Day, with students learning how to dig in for the environment and have fun getting grubby, planting more than 470,000 native seedlings, trees, shrubs, edibles and flowers.

Schools Tree Day can mark the beginning of a long-term environmental program and is a reminder of the importance of nature in our daily lives. It is a call-to-action for educators to introduce nature-care activities, outdoor learning, and fun, healthy environmental programs into the day-to-day experience of children to help them grow.