Some partnerships start with a single conversation and quietly grow into something you come to rely on. Our relationship with Argon & Co is exactly that.

Since 2019, this award-winning global management consultancy has been supporting community tree planting projects across Australia through Fifteen Trees and the numbers tell their own story. Eleven thousand (11,000) native trees and counting, with 375 new trees planted every quarter, season after season, without fail.

Argon & Co operates across 18 offices in Europe, Australasia, America, Asia and the Middle East, helping some of the world’s leading organisations transform their operations and supply chains. They are, by any measure, a serious global business. And yet for six years, they have consistently chosen to invest in native tree growing on Australian soil.

That kind of long-term commitment means a great deal to us and even more to the community groups, the wildlife and the landscapes that are slowly being restored because of it.

Site 1 | Bellinger Island, NSW | 190 trees

The trees were at Bellingen Island, NSW (Gumbaynggirr Country) by Bellinger Landcare members over the course of a few weeks. The flying fox population at this site is nationally recognised and is occupied by Grey headed Flying Foxes (nationally threatened), Black Flying Foxes and Little Red Flying foxes. The area is also home to Koalas, Quolls, Greater Gliders, and Glossy Black Cockatoos.

This particular site was selected to provide multiple benefits, such as:

• increase forage and roost sites for Grey Headed Flying Foxes,
• Improve health of the site,
• reduce erosion and
• improve connectivity between fragmented flora reserves.

The dominant vegetation immediately around planting sites is Lowland Subtropical Rainforest and Wet Sclerophyll Forest, but much of this has been cleared for farmland in the past.

Thank you to the generous sponsors of these trees. By sponsoring this project, you have helped Bellinger Landcare’s efforts to provide increased forage for our beloved local flying fox populations.

Andrew Yager | Project Manager | Bellinger Landcare Inc.

These trees will improve the availability of winter forage for Grey Headed Flying Foxes. These flying foxes are a keystone species in the Australian landscape and provide critical pollination and seed dispersal services. Although they have a varied diet, the availability of nectar in late winter and early spring restricts population growth. By improving the availability of this forage, Bellinger Landcare Group are helping to ease that stress on the flying foxes. The trees will also provide multispecies benefit to other mammals, birds and insects of the area, and help with erosion control and flood mitigation.

Site 2 | Perth, WA | 250 trees

Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Conservation Centre at Martin, WA is a great organisation to support. Kaarakin is situated on a 41-acre bushland site, that was a former wildlife park. The site was once extremely degraded. The Kaarakin team have spent many years revegetating it back towards its former biodiversity rich state. Kaarakin are focusing on replanting to create wildlife corridors for small species of mammals, reptiles and birds to safely travel through and back into the regional park adjacent (Banyowla Regional Park). Kaarakin rescue wild black cockatoos in distress (due to injury from cars, cats, ravens and other birds) and release them back into the wild once they are healthy and well.

Kaarakin would like to thank supporters of Fifteen Trees for the continued support. Allowing us to infill our once degraded 41 acres and turn it into a safe wildlife corridor in the surrounding regional park. The sheer number of species that have returned since we starting revegetating is mind-blowing and amazing to witness.

We are already seeing the site provide food for all three of our endemic and threatened black cockatoos as well as the return of several small bird species such as Red Capped and Scarlet Robins, Western Spinebills and Yellow Rumped Thornbills

Sam Clarke | Animal Management Officer | Kaarakin

Kaarakin is in the foothills of the Darling Scarp, the last spot for black cockatoos within the Jarrah Marri forest to stop for a feed before entering the urban areas.  These plantings help connect the centre’s 41acre bushland site to the surrounding regional park, reducing habitat fragmentation by providing wildlife corridors. A variety of large and mid-story cockatoo foraging plants were planted. This included trees such as Marri and Jarrah, a variety of Hakeas and Bull Banksia and Ashby’s Banksia.

All three of the local endemic threatened black cockatoos visit this site to feed. They are the Baudins, Carnabys and Forest red tailed black cockatoos. The site is also frequented by some more common marsupials such as bandicoots and brush tailed possums.

Site 3 | Hunter Valley, NSW | 310 trees

The trees were planted in the Hunter Valley by the Hunter Region Landcare Network (HRLN) who brought together 35 volunteers for a day of community tree planting.

Before colonisation, a significant portion of this region was covered in Dry Rainforest – a rich, layered ecosystem that the lowland areas have almost entirely lost over the past 200 years. This planting is part of a long-term effort to restore nature and reconnect fragmented patches of native vegetation. Think of it as a biodiversity corridor in the making – one that will link this site back into a broad network of native habitat and accelerate the return of rainforest species.

Wattles, bottlebrushes, river oaks, river red gums, forest red gums, lilly pillies, native frangipanni, tea trees, paperbarks, bush cherry and pittosporums have all been carefully chosen to support ecosystem restoration and give local wildlife much needed native habitat.

And the wildlife here is worth planting for. The Dry Rainforest remnants of the Hunter are home to some extraordinary birds – honeyeaters, fruit doves, pigeons and small birds that live among the understorey. But the star of the show is the Regent Bowerbird, the mascot of the Hunter Region Landcare Network, and one of Australia’s most spectacular birds (shown above).

Argon & Co has now been part of the Fifteen Trees community for six years — and in that time, 11,000 native trees have gone into the ground on their behalf. That’s not a token gesture. That’s a genuine, sustained commitment to restoring Australian ecosystems, supporting local landcare groups and reducing the carbon footprint of a global business one quarter at a time. We are deeply grateful for their support, and we look forward to planting the next 11,000 together.

We also thank the team for the additional funding for tree guards. These guards help protect the new seedlings and gives them protection from grazers, in particular rabbits and kangaroos. Inside the plastic sleeves, the microclimate created protects the seedlings from harsh UV, drifting sand, frost, and wind. Once the seedlings survive their first summer and get the opportunity to develop a strong taproot, their chances of survival skyrockets.

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 B. Filippa

With a background in Environmental Science (Melbourne Uni), Colleen is the Founding Director of Fifteen Trees. In 2009, after 20 years in 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.