National Tree Day

Sue Brooks August 2nd, 2009

A dedicated and caring group of people met this morning at the Fay Smith Wetlands in maryborough to ‘do their bit’ for National Tree Day. The morning was excellent with the combined help from the Ergon Energy Green Team, FCRC, Landcare and WPSQ all joining together with interested community members to re-vegetate a degraded section of the Fay Smith Wetlands. We also learned many tricks to ensure successful propagating as demonstrated by John Eggleston.

Trees are the factories of our planet. Without them we would not have enough air to breathe and water to drink. Trees are the lungs of our earth converting C02 into Oxygen and transpiring water into the air so that it can fall as rain. Trees are an essential link in the cycle of life. They provide food and shelter for much of our wildlife. Without trees we would not have koalas for example.

Trees alter our climate and I wonder if tree clearing is adding to the negative impacts of climate change. After all, it is proven that rainfall decreases in areas cleared of trees. We need to surround ourselves with trees and preserve remnant ‘old growth’ forests.

Trees are the ultimate renewable resource as we can grow them easily. They help prevent erosion, moderate our climate and provide building materials and paper products for our consumption.

And some facts from the web… “Forests are the world’s second largest carbon reservoirs (oceans are the largest). Unlike oceans, however, we can grow new forests. Planting new trees remains one of the cheapest, most effective means of drawing excess CO2 from the atmosphere. One acre of forestland will sequester between 150 – 200 tons of CO2 in its first 40 years”.

More pics on my facebook page!