Every year our society has held a tree planting on National Tree Day, except last year when it was cancelled due to Covid. This year we hope to proceed but please watch our Facebook page close to the date shown above. The goal is to vegetate the embankment opposite a stand of Manna Gums, in first picture, near the Somerset Drive carpark at Banyule Flats. But there is nothing to stop us from celebrating the trees in Banyule, which has the second highest tree canopy cover in the Melbourne suburbs. Currently Banyule Council has a big tree planting program. Why do we need them? They absorb carbon from the atmosphere, provide shade and cool the soil beneath their canopies, take up soil water and stabilize river banks. Many animals and birds depend on trees for food – flower nectar and pollen, sap and small creatures under the bark or on leaves; for shelter - in crevices, e.g. microbats, and hollows, such as possums and parrots; for perching lookouts, and critically for nesting – on branches and in hollows.

Banyule’s early settlers grubbed out trees in order to grow crops and later to graze cattle. Since 1980 Warringal Conservation Society has been replanting trees with Council’s help; at Banyule Flats and Warringal Parklands most of the trees are younger than 40 years. There are older giants, on the banks of Banyule Billabong and the Yarra River. Why not print out the map on our Banyule Flats drop-down, take a walk and celebrate the trees, young and old. See you there!