Wednesday Volunteers
2nd August 2024
By Phil Sinclair
Wednesday Volunteers Beveridge planting session: 12 June 2024
On Wednesday, 12 June, 9 well-prepared volunteers car-pooled their way up High Street, Epping, and Merriang Roads to the planting site at the corner of Merriang and MacGregor Roads, near Beveridge. We were there to plant eucalypts, acacia and some lower growing plants around a dam at the head of a shallow gully that ran down to Merri Creek. Whittlesea Council funded MCMC to do this work and Wednesday volunteers were there to help the funding achieve as much planting as possible.
It felt like we were near the headwaters of the Merri Creek, though our briefing from Sophie of MCMC indicated that the actual headwaters were still a few kilometres north of us. From the ridge above the dam, we could see the township of Beveridge, a few kms away to the west, clouds and, occasionally a bit of drizzle heading towards us from the south. Lower down the slope, where most of the planting was occurring, we had a bit of protection from a cool wind. It was about 9 degrees, but felt a bit chillier than that until we got into the work.
The MCMC crew had thankfully pre-augered the planting holes and our job was to put the plants in their new homes, mallet a couple of stakes into the heavy clay soils on either side of the plant and install a wire guard (cage) around each plant. The guards are needed in this part of the Merri catchment, because the deer and kangaroos would make short work of the young plants without the protection of these wire cages.
Some new skills were learnt in assembling the cages and pegging them around the stakes and plants. The 2-hour session flew past and all volunteers agreed it was one of the most satisfying planting efforts we had been involved in. It felt fabulous to be making a difference this far up the catchment. Here's a couple of photos of us in action.
If you'd like to join us to plant, weed and nurture vegetation near Merri Creek, please check out our events on the Wednesday Volunteers part of the FoMC Facebook page (insert link: #####) or if you’re an FoMC member, check the Member Jungle Events icon which will show you when Wednesday Volunteers have scheduled our next planting and weeding activities. <<Link to MCMC events page??>>
