30,000 trees planted through Rewilding Sydney, more planting partners needed

Greening Australia’s Rewilding Sydney project, funded by the NSW Government, has reached a major milestone, planting more than 30,000 trees within Greater Sydney in less than a year.

“With these 30,000 trees we’ve made a great start towards our goal of planting over 170,000 native trees for Sydney by the end of 2025,” said Evan Freame, Program Specialist at Greening Australia, who is leading delivery of the environmental restoration project.

“The scale of these plantings is really important, it means we can make a difference for our local communities and wildlife when it comes to problems like urban heat, climate change and biodiversity loss.”

Evan Freame is leading on-ground delivery of the Rewilding Sydney project, which is set to plant 170,000 native trees across Sydney. Credit Tom Yau.

The Rewilding Sydney project is proudly funded by the NSW Government as part of their goal to increase Sydney’s tree canopy cover to 40 per cent by 2036.

Executive Director for Resilience and Urban Sustainability Steve Hartley said the NSW Government’s partnership with Greening Australia continues to deliver new trees and green cover at schools and on public and private land under the Greening our City program.

“The project aims to reduce urban heat by planting more trees in the areas where they are most needed. Planting more trees helps increase our urban tree canopy, which means more shade, cleaner air, healthier communities and more beautiful places to live”, said Mr Hartley.

At 15,000 seedlings, the largest planting being undertaken so far through Rewilding Sydney is at Camden Town Farm in Sydney’s western suburbs, in partnership with Camden Council.

Mayor of Camden, Cr Ashleigh Cagney, said: “The areas that Greening Australia have planted out at Camden Town Farm will greatly enhance the integrity of the local habitat particularly along the riparian corridor, and will help to improve the bank’s resilience to erosion during flooding events. The collaboration with Greening Australia has fast tracked Camden Council’s efforts to achieve these objectives at this location.”

To recreate and reinforce a River-flat Eucalypt Forest vegetation community, the planting design included some key canopy species such as the critically endangered and locally significant Camden White Gum (Eucalyptus benthamii), Cabbage Gums (E. amplifolia subsp. amplifolia) and Forest Red Gums (E. tereticornis), with the majority of plants being diverse mid-storey and shrub species.

Riverside plantings at Camden Town Farm will help stabilise the banks while also creating habitat. Credit Tom Yau.

Establishing this biodiversity corridor through Camden Town Farm will benefit species such as the Bare-Nosed Wombat, small woodland birds, and endemic plants.

Given that Camden Town Farm is accessible to the public, the growing plants will not only provide refuges for flora and fauna, but also cool, shady places for people to gather, exercise and relax.

Member for Camden Sally Quinnell MP said Greening Australia projects had planted over 14,000 trees across the Camden LGA since 2021 as part of its ‘Cooling the Schools’ and ‘Rewilding Sydney’ projects.

“Greening Australia and Camden Council will continue to prioritise urban greening efforts in Camden and plant an additional 5,000 trees by April 2025.”

Planting partners, L-R: Evan Freame (Greening Australia), Member for Camden Sally Quinnell MP, Chris Macris (Greening Australia), Carmel Hamilton (Camden Council).

With the target of planting 170,000 trees by 2025, the Rewilding Sydney project is seeking more private and public partners who are looking for support to undertake planting projects.

Mr Freame said Greening Australia wants to work with anyone who has land big or small: “This could be councils, like our friends at Camden, or institutions, infrastructure managers and land management authorities. If they provide the land, we do the planting for free.”

“Our aim with trees planted through Rewilding Sydney is to create dense and diverse habitats, which complement the local ecological vegetation and provide cooling in low canopy areas with housing and high use residential areas. The lead time for these tree plantings can be six months, so if this is ringing all the right bells, please don’t delay in getting in touch to have that conversation with us!”

Rewilding Sydney has plans for planting 80,000 more trees in 2024, in partnership with eight landholders in the Greater Sydney Region. We are currently considering sites for 2025 to deliver a further 60,000 trees for the program. If you are interested in what we can offer, please reach out by completing this form or call 0476 889 738.

Dense and diverse plantings, such as at Camden Town Farm, help tackle urban heat while also creating diverse habitat. Credit Tom Yau.

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