Officeworks Pinpoint magazine Pinpoint Issue 28 Spring 2018 | Page 20

Restoring Australia keeps growing Exciting new sites added to the initiative With the 2018 planting season coming to an end, we are looking forward to the 2019 planting season which will see us plant a record 230,000 trees throughout 2019 in partnership with Greening Australia. As our program continues to grow, we are excited to expand to other parts of Australia including Queensland and Western Australia. Here’s some more info about the new sites, which are in addition to the projects underway in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. Above: It was a cold winter’s day in late July when the team headed out to Colac to plant trees. 20 Monaro, NSW South West Riverina, NSW The Monaro region is an iconic farming district in the NSW southern tables. In the winter, the Monaro is traversed by thousands of snow-lovers traveling from Sydney and Canberra to the ski-fields in the Snowy Mountains. Over the past decade, the region has suffered a devastating loss of trees and landholders in the region are desperate to find answers to the issue and restore habitat, shade and shelter to this cold and windswept landscape. We will be plant around 20,000 trees in this area which will help restore tree cover and connect habitats, supporting koalas and a range of threatened birds. The Riverina is one of the food bowls of NSW producing fruit, vegetables, cotton and nuts. It is also home to many threatened species including the Superb Parrot. After 150 years of agriculture use, the condition of the native woodlands has been impacted and has resulted in habitat loss. But by re-establishing native trees and reconnecting large sections of the land, food and habitat is provided for a number of threatened species.