AstraZeneca supports mass revegetation of native forests on Eyre Peninsula

Planting at Glandore on Eyre Peninsula. Photo: Mark Thomas.

Over 365,000 trees have been planted this season across 541 hectares at Glandore, a property near Elliston on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, building on the 657 hectares planted there in 2023 thanks to multi-year funding from AstraZeneca.

This restoration at Glandore is part of a partnership between AstraZeneca, reforestation charity One Tree Planted and Greening Australia, contributing to the planting of 25 million biodiverse and locally appropriate trees across Australia. The planting at this property complements previous AstraZeneca restoration on other Eyre Peninsula properties in 2021 and 2022.

“It’s been a huge effort by the team overall, particularly this year. With the late start to the rains we only began seeding in mid-June, and then in just two months we cranked out all of the planting at Glandore,” says Luke Kingston, Greening Australia’s Operations Manager for South Australia.

“The majority of the northern paddocks we’ve been seeding this year are that traditional Eyre Peninsula limestone country too, pulling a rock seeding machine behind an all-terrain vehicle, so it’s been a slow and bouncy ride.”

The majority of the carbon planting at Glandore has been achieved via direct seeding, a tricky proposition on Eyre Peninsula’s limestone country but the best solution for mass revegetation. Photo: Mark Thomas.

The planting at Glandore is designed to replicate two local vegetation communities originally found in the area – the now critically endangered Drooping Sheoak Grassy Woodland on Calcrete community and Mallee Box Woodland (dominated by Eucalyptus porosa trees). It’s also a registered carbon planting.

AstraZeneca Australia and New Zealand Country President, Ben McDonald says: “It is great to see the enormous progress made in South Australia, which will have a positive impact on the local biodiversity in the region.

“AstraZeneca is proud to partner with Greening Australia and One Tree Planted to deliver one of the largest-ever privately funded restoration projects in the country. So far over 6.5 million native trees have been planted in priority regions located in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania.”

The project at Glandore has both supported and generated considerable interest in the local community, with one neighbour already signed up to have the Greening Australia team direct seed 1,200 hectares of their property next year, continuing AstraZeneca’s impact in the area. Partnerships are being fostered with the Traditional Owners of the Elliston-Lake Newland area, with a cultural survey undertaken and planting completed by Wirangu and Nauo contractors in both 2023 and 2024.

With the native reforestation carbon planting at Glandore now complete, the project is entering its maintenance phase. The plantings will now be regularly monitored and infill plantings completed if needed. The first audit for the Clean Energy Regulator is also complete, and it’s expected that the first carbon credits will be issued by the end of 2024.

 
To receive news like this straight to your inbox, subscribe to Greening Australia’s newsletter, The Leaf.

Share this article