2nd April 2024 | 

The Huon Valley Volunteer Landcare Nursery began about seven months ago and is the result of a partnership between the Huon Council and Landcare Tasmania with additional support from the State Government’s Landcare Action Grants. (NRE).

Volunteers from around the Huon Valley meet once a week to manage the nursery, forming connections and developing new skills in seed sourcing, collecting and propagation.

Natural Resource Management Coordinator at Council, Michelle Joy, said the nursery is exceeding expectations.

“We were aiming to hopefully be able to propagate two and a half thousand plants in our first year, and we’re up to nearly four thousand!” she said.

“So we have over-achieved, which is great. We’re very enthusiastic. We love it.”

Council gives away thousands of native seedlings annually to some of the 38 Landcare groups in the Huon Valley.

Michelle said with locally sourced plants becoming harder to find, it’s important plants with traits suited to the local environment are readily available.

“These plants will go out to different Landcare groups and we have property owners in the Huon that are undertaking revegetation projects,” she said.

“The revegetation projects are helping to improve native habitat, restoring degraded landscapes and help with erosion control along creeks and rivers.”

“We’ve also provided plants to local schools and community groups to grow habitat and bush food gardens which make great educational resources.”

Watch: Volunteers from around the Huon Valley meet once a week to manage the nursery, forming connections and developing new skills in seed sourcing, collecting and propagation.

The volunteers are also working to establish a local seed bank and a native seed collectors network.

Huon Valley Mayor Sally Doyle says the nursery project is a great example of community volunteers coming together to make a difference.

“The nursery will be an important asset for the Huon Valley and will have a lasting impact on the environment through the donation of local plants for resilient revegetation projects,” Mayor Doyle said.

“It showcases the best in our region’s wonderful volunteer network, helping our community into the future.”

“We are excited to be supporting a thriving local Landcare network in the Huon and helping people to be involved from seed to tree, connecting with their local community along the way” said Landcare Tasmania CEO Peter Stronach.

The nursery startup has also been assisted by other volunteer nurseries, such as Kingborough Council’s volunteer nursery, nipaluna Nursery in Hobart, The Understorey Network, and Silver Banksia Nursery in Margate.

A revegetation project planning workshop is scheduled for later in the year. Suitable projects may then be entered into Landcare Tasmania’s Project Bank.

More nursery volunteers are very welcome. If you’re interested in getting involved, If you would like native plants for a revegetation project, you can contact Council on (03) 6264 0300 and ask for the NRM team, or you can email [email protected]

If you would like to join a local Landcare group, check out the Tasmanian Landcare website at www.landcaretas.org.au to find out which groups are active in your area.