Community Plants in Thirlmere 

On Saturday 9th November 2024, Greater Sydney Landcare hosted a Creating Canopies community planting in Thirlmere, located in the Wollondilly LGA.  

Thirlmere locals Kasey and Scott generously volunteered their land to help increase canopy cover in the area and mitigate urban heat in the Greater Sydney area. If you’re interested in volunteering your land for free trees, you can register your interest here. 

Thirlmere has increasing development and many blocks surrounding the property have recently been cleared. Kasey is a volunteer for Sydney Wildlife rescue, and currently rehabilitating multiple possum joeys for release. Kasey and Scott were keen to participate in Creating Canopies to increase habitat in the area for wildlife. We thank them for volunteering their land for environmental restoration. 

Community Effort & Achievements 

An awesome team of 13 volunteers joined us on the day to plant 700 native trees and shrubs. These species, carefully chosen for their suitability to the local environment, will grow to over 3 metres tall and provide cooling shade and create vital habitats for wildlife. The group also planted 100 native grasses to help slow dam runoff and reduce downstream sedimentation by acting as a natural filter.

The volunteers planted:

• Gum trees (eucalypts) 
• She-oaks (allocasuarina) 
• Paperbarks (melaleucas) 
• Banksias 
• Hakeas 
• Wattles (acacias) 
• Bottlebrush (callistemons) 
• Tick Bush (Kunzea ambigua) – which will be used for a Ringtail Possum drey
• Hop Bush (Dodonaea viscosa) 
• Australian Indigo (Indigofera australis 

Greater Sydney Landcare’s Natural Resources Officer Bryce Doyle and Project Officer Alicia Harb-Akins of the Creating Canopies team led the day. They praised the enthusiasm of the group and were impressed by the volunteers’ work ethic in completing the planting.  

Bryce and Alicia staked and guarded the plants to protect them from browsing animals as they get established, to ensure the volunteers’ efforts were safeguarded for lasting impact.  

Thank You All! 

Kasey was immensely grateful for the help planting her land and treated the volunteers to ice blocks as the heat increased later in the day.  

A special thank you goes out to the landowners as well as all the volunteers, including colleagues from Rabobank, who travelled from all over Sydney to care for nature and contribute to Creating Canopies. Your dedication and passion made this day a resounding success.  

Volunteer for Bushcare in the Wollondilly Area

If you’d like to contribute to environmental efforts in the Wollondilly Area, you can become a Bushcare volunteer and regenerate bushland. No experience is necessary as training is provided.

Corporate Volunteering with Greater Sydney Landcare

Find out more about Corporate Volunteering with Greater Sydney Landcare and be sure to download our Corporate Volunteering Info Pack.

Get Involved in Creating Canopies

If you’d like to find out how to get free trees planted on your land, you can Register Your Site for Trees.

Come along and plant trees with Creating Canopies. Find out what events we have coming up on Greater Sydney Landcare’s Eventbrite.

About Creating Canopies

Landcare NSW and Greater Sydney Landcare are planting 200,000 trees as part of the Greening our City program to help reduce urban heat in Greater Sydney. Proudly funded by the NSW Government.