Since 2014, the team from G.J. Gardner Homes East Gippsland have been supporting our tree planting projects by purchasing 15 trees for every new build. Over that time, they have generously purchased 4,650 native trees and shrubs for revegetation projects.

Michael Ellett is a generous supporter of local community groups, and their tree planting projects. Over this past year, his office purchased 525 native trees for revegetation projects in the Gippsland district of Victoria.

The local Landcare group determine the best location and species for the site. The seedlings themselves are grown by local independent nurseries who often collect seed from the region by hand. In this case, the trees were sourced from Wildseed Nursery Gippsland. Members from two landcare groups planted the trees, Lakes Entrance Community Landcare Group and Tambo Bluff Landcare Coastcare.

Site A | Lakes Entrance, East Gippsland | 320 trees

The site area was approximately 4.3ha and located in a gully that was previously cleared for horticultural production. The aim of the planting group is to assist the natural regeneration of the site by ongoing small plantings with various species of native plants. The site has significant very old Grey gum trees and Blackwoods.

A number of native wildlife live at the site, including; wombats, wallabies, lyrebirds and the Satin Bowerbird.

We would like to thank GJ Gardner Homes, along with Fifteen Trees for their support of this small project. We hope to continue the slow process of restoring this beautiful site over the next few years with further support from your organisations.

Phillip Vaughan | Facilitator | Lakes Entrance Community Landcare Group

Site B | Metung, East Gippsland | 200 trees

The planting took place on the Wallaby Creek Walking Track by Tambo Bluff Landcare Coastcare to attempt to protect the 15 large Coastal Grey Box eucalyptus that were already on site. Some of the species planted were Black Sheoaks and Buchan Blue Wattles.

We would not have been in a position to start this project without the support of G.J. Gardner Homes and Fifteen Trees. Many thanks to both organisations.

Alan Maloney | Secretary | Tambo Bluff Landcare Coastcare

G.J. Gardner’s core business is building homes. Safe, secure places for families to grow and thrive. We love that alongside this, G.J. Gardner is planting forests, which is very much the same thing; safe, secure places for fauna and flora to grow and thrive for many years to come.

Thank you Michael for your continued sponsorship of our revegetation projects by purchasing trees for local community projects.

If you would like to know more about sponsoring community tree planting projects and how we can assist you in becoming a more sustainable business, please contact Colleen at <[email protected]>.

Writer: Colleen Filippa

With a background in Environmental Science, Colleen is the Founding Director of Fifteen Trees. In 2009, after 20 years in primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions, Colleen left the classroom to start the company. Fifteen Trees is a social enterprise assisting individuals and companies to reduce their carbon footprint by supporting community groups such as Landcare, schools and environmental networks.