On Saturday 28th October, Creating Canopies hosted a planting at Bilpin Springs Farm. This is a sustainable small farm run by a young local farmer called Ned Long. Ned is all about sustainability, improving the ecology of his land and making his farm a place for native wildlife to call home.
A total of 20 volunteers helped Greater Sydney Landcare’s Creating Canopies team to plant 1,500 native trees and shrubs on Bilpin Springs Farm.
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Ned Long, of Bilpin Springs Farm, was pleased to partner with Creating Canopies & add native habitat to his land. -
Ned Long, of Bilpin Springs Farm, was pleased to partner with Creating Canopies & add native habitat to his land.
A Different Approach
This planting was a little different to what we are used to! Ned wanted to create rip lines in the soil to plant into, which is better for the plant roots to reach subsoil moisture.
We planted long corridors along Ned’s fence lines, and then throughout the paddock, following the natural contour lines of the landscape. This will also help the plants absorb the impact of heavy rains, which in a straight-line planting would often wash away topsoil.
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Some of the native trees and shrubs were planted along the fence lines. -
Some of the native trees and shrubs were planted along the fence lines.
Additionally, Ned is in the process of creating a chain of ponds leading to his dam, so we planted water loving trees in these areas.
Ponds are great for wildlife and they create healthy aquatic ecosystems for frogs, birds, and insects like dragonflies.
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Ned is currently creating a chain of ponds on his land, so we took this into account when selecting native species to plant here. -
Chef Ned cooked a delicious frittata for morning tea. Thank you Ned!
Ned is also a chef! He cooked us a delicious frittata for morning tea, and provided some cheese and meats too.
Thank you Ned Long, Bilpin Springs Farm, and all the volunteers who planted native trees and shrubs to create habitat and cooling canopy cover to reduce urban heat in the future.
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The volunteers had a fantastic day planting 1,500 native trees and shrubs. -
The volunteers had a fantastic day planting 1,500 native trees and shrubs.
Thank you also to Monique Bailey, Local Landcare Coordinator of the Hawkesbury-Nepean Landcare Network, Hawkesbury River County Council for assisting with the day.
Join Hawkesbury’s Bushcare Program
If you’d like to contribute to environmental efforts in the Hawkesbury region, you can volunteer to become a Hawkesbury City Council Bushcare volunteer, and regenerate bushland. No experience is necessary as training is provided.
Get Involved in Creating Canopies
Find out more about Corporate Volunteering with Greater Sydney Landcare here. Be sure to download our Corporate Volunteering Info Pack.
If you’d like to find out how to get free trees planted on your land, visit our Register Your Site for Trees page.
Come along and plant trees with Creating Canopies. Find out what events we have coming up on Greater Sydney Landcare’s Eventbrite page.
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.
