students in front of shade house students with propagated plants propagated plants transplanting Trees ready for planting students with tools donated by Mitre 10 students planting - Oct 07

Holy Family Wetland Project Our wetland advisors suggested that the scope for planting wetland species in the area is substantial enough to warrant the establishment of a small shade house nursery on the school grounds. We were encouraged by this advice to seek funding for a small nursery and we were very fortunate to receive two small Landcare grants from Richmond Landcare Inc and Mitre 10 in Term Three 2006. These grants contributed considerably towards financing Holy Family’s shade house which was erected in Week 3 of Term Four 2006. At the beginning of Term Four 2006 Years 3/4 children at Holy Family began the ‘Wetland Unit’ which is an Environmental Education unit designed to raise the children’s awareness of the importance of wetlands, generally, and of our coastal freshwater wetland, in particular. The unit includes lessons on wetland plant and wildlife identification. However, the main theme of the unit is the propagation of three wetland tree species; Eucalyptus Robusta (Swamp Mahogany), Melaleuca Quinquenerva (Broad-leaved Paperbark) and Allocasuarina Glauca (Swamp Oak). Seedling trays of the three species were raised at school. As well, a number of children took home seedling trays to be nurtured as homework projects. Towards the end of Term Four 2006 the Year 3/4 children were involved in the process of transplanting seedlings into tubes. Most of the students who undertook seedling production as homework projects brought their trays in during the last week of term and helped with transplanting the seedlings to tubes. Hundreds of tubes of the three species were stored in the shade house by the end of the term. 2007 After ten summery weeks in the shade house the tubes of Broad-leaved Paperbark, Swamp Mahogany and Swamp Oak had grown large enough to be re-potted into 15cm pots. In early March 2007, every class from Year 3 to Year 6 took part in this process and each child re-potted a wetland plant and placed it where he/she could find it in the shade house. As well as the three species mentioned, a number of Bangalow Palms (another swamp tolerant local species) were re-potted from a seedling tray grown by Mr Sullivan, a Holy Family teacher. As a result of this work the shade house was filled and we had over three hundred healthy wetland seedlings growing into saplings.   The plants stayed in the shade house until they were ready for planting out in the school’s wetland in Term Three and Four. The site was sprayed for weeds early in Term Three 2007 and planting out began one month later. Mr Bill Madigan very generously assisted with digging holes and this made the task of planting trees much easier for the children. When the trees were planted and watered, mulch was applied to control the weeds and to reduce moisture loss. The children in every Holy Family primary class had planted a tree in our wetland by the end of Term Four 2007. More Funding Early in Term Four 2007 our school received Landcare funding from two sources. Firstly, Richmond Landcare Inc provided the funds for the school to purchase pots and potting mix to propagate 500 Lomandra seedlings for the border of the wetland. Secondly, in October, Mitre 10 sponsored our Wetland Project with a $500 donation to purchase gardening equipment. 2008 Very early in the new school year we received a NSW Government Eco - schools grant for $2500. With the grant we will build a secure nursery yard complete with its own watering system. Mr Deeps received funding to purchase a water tank which will supply water to our nursery. A wet summer ensured that the hundreds of trees planted in our wetland last term were happily established when school reopened at the end of January 2008. Even though some of the trees were semi-submerged, mostly they were very happy in the moist environment. Our main tasks during Term One this year will be to: -replace the few seedlings that died in the wetland during summer -maintain the trees already planted -plant out the 500 Lomandras propagated late in 2007 -propagate more wetland species for planting out later in the year.

Richmond Landcare Incorporated, PO Box 525, Alstonville, NSW 2477, mobile: 0427 485 910
email:info@richmondlandcare.org or cso@richmondlandcare.org