Eco-tourism has to be the future of travel. With environmental pressures bearing down from all directions, sustainable adventuring is really the only ethical choice. Luckily, if you’re in Sydney or surrounds looking for some quality time in our beautiful backyard, Damien McClellan from EcoTreasures has you covered.

At the core of every breathtaking trip Damien organises, there is a serious message. The natural world is ours to marvel at – but it’s also ours to preserve. All Damien’s tours go into conservation areas. Everyone who participates learns about why we need conservation areas in the first place, and what we stand to lose. Since 2012, EcoTreasures has helped us plant 1,213 native trees. This year we planted another 50 trees. With this small forest, Damien is building habitat for fauna and improving our collective future by greening the local landscape.

The trees were planted at Bellingen NSW (Gumbaynggirr Country) by Bellinger Landcare. The flying fox population at Bellingen Island is a nationally recognised site. It is mostly occupied by Grey headed Flying Foxes (nationally threatened), while Black Flying Foxes and Little Red Flying foxes have also been recorded at the camp. The area is also home to Koalas, Quolls, Greater Gliders, and Glossy Black Cockatoos.

The 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.

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 multi-species benefit to other mammals, birds and insects of the area, and help with erosion control and flood mitigation.

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.

EcoTreasures’ trees will grow up a long way from the blue waters of Sydney that inspired their purchase, but the connection is just as strong as if they had been planted on the shoreline. We are all part of an ecosystem. Every piece has its place in the puzzle, and the health of our seas is intimately connected with the health of our forests, with the stability of our land, and with the commitment of its human custodians.

Damien is passionate about ‘spreading the message of conservation across the world while having a good time with new friends’. We absolutely couldn’t be more on board.

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.