We love our community groups who are working towards restoring their native reserves, roadsides, creeks, riverbanks, hills, valleys, swamplands and flatlands. This year, with your support, we will distribute close to 50,000 trees (including shrubs, grasses and groundcovers) to almost 100 individual groups across all states of Australia.

And so, we thought it was time to introduce another of our favourite groups to you. This month we put the spotlight on Koala Clancy Foundation (KCF) and show you a little behind the scenes of this amazing group who are working to support their local population of wild koalas. This group keeps hitting milestones. Last year, they planted 30,000 trees within 3 months!

The KCF have named numerous of koalas throughout the Western Plains including Kiki, Mimi, Wemba, Carninje , Mabo and of course the famous Clancy for whom the Foundation was named after. More about the famous Clancy here.

Janine Duffy is the President and Founder of Koala Clancy. Janine is also the founder of Echidna Walkabouts, a tour organisation that has a strong respect for the environment, and indigenous cultures. Every tour has a conservation component, a built-in donation to Koala Clancy. KCF inspires local communities to help ensure a future for wild koalas of the Western Plains of Victoria, particularly around the You Yangs and Brisbane Ranges, west of Melbourne.

The aims of the organisation are to protect and enhance the natural environment by:

• re-establishing and maintaining the natural habitats of koalas and other native wildlife,
• removing weeds from the natural habitats of koalas & other native wildlife,
• educating the public about the conservation of koalas & other native wildlife, and their natural habitats,
• promoting biodiversity through planting native plant and tree species in areas in which they are no longer found or are no longer abundant,
• undertaking and supporting research into koalas in their natural habitat, and
• promoting public debate regarding environmental conservation and environmental law and policy in Australia to support the protection of koalas and their natural habitat.

Fifteen Trees is a very proud supporter of Koala Clancy Foundation, providing trees, shrubs, grasses and ground covers for their revegetation and restoration projects. And we thank them for their care for our native environment. With the impact of a changing climate, and natural disasters like drought, bushfires and flood, organisations like KCF have never been so important.

We love to put the spotlight on our community groups. Here’s the link to more information about Westgate Biodiversity, and Buloke and Northern Grampians Landcare Network.

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.