Equip Physiotherapy and Pilates is a thriving physiotherapy practice in the busy rural hub of Horsham, Western Victoria. Its team of highly qualified staff can help with anything from sports injuries to dizziness and beyond. They’ve also, with little fanfare but plenty of foresight, committed to doing their part for the environment by planting trees.

There is a special place in our hearts for small businesses who genuinely care about the planet they rely on. Equip has partnered with Fifteen Trees to sponsor 150 trees every year.

Werribee, VIC | 150 trees | 2026

On Wurundjeri Country, at Werribee, VIC at a former pine plantation site, over 200 people turned up to plant trees. They came from all corners – local scout groups, a geocaching group, Friends of Werribee Gorge, Friends of Long Forest Mallee, Moorabool Landcare Network, Bacchus Marsh Lions Club, the Victorian Mobile Landcare Group, the Victorian National Parks Association and the Shah Satnam G Green S Welfare Society. A remarkable cross-section of community, united by a single morning of planting.

This was Grow West’s Community Planting Day – an annual event that has become something of a fixture in the local calendar, and one that means far more than the trees it puts in the ground. It’s about care for Country, connection between neighbours and the kind of collective effort that reminds you what a community can do when it turns up.

And turn up they did. By the end of the day, 3,500 native seedlings had been planted across Bald Hill Reserve – 33 species in total, including Drooping Sheoak, Tree Violet, Common Everlasting Daisies, New Holland Daisies, Austral Bluebells, Chocolate Lilies, Wallaby-grass and Spear-grass. It’s a diverse and deliberately chosen mix, designed to rebuild the understorey that a plantation site lacks and to restore the kind of layered, functioning ecosystem that local wildlife depends on.

And the wildlife here is worth planting for. Koalas move through this landscape. Swift Parrots (one of Australia’s most critically endangered birds) have been recorded in the area. Little Eagles hunt overhead. Every seedling in the ground at Bald Hill Reserve is a step toward giving these species more of what they need, that is a connected, healthy, biodiverse native habitat spreading across the Moorabool landscape.

Grow West would like to thank Fifteen Trees and the organisations that contribute seedlings to projects like this. Without this type of support, we wouldn’t be able to have the significant impacts that we do in connecting habitat throughout the Werribee catchment.

Lindy MacRaild | Partnerships Coordinator | Grow West.

The Moorabool Shire Council has already done significant work at this site, and the Grow West planting day builds beautifully on that foundation, increasing biodiversity, improving habitat connectivity and ensuring that Bald Hill Reserve continues to grow into something genuinely extraordinary.

Reservoir, VIC | 150 trees | 2024

The trees (including shrubs and grasses) were planted at Edwardes Lake and Edgars Creek Wetlands located in Reservoir, Victoria. Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country. This area is classed as Grassy Woodlands. The aim of the planting group is to restore vegetation to this standard and protect the few remnants areas of vegetation that are left.

This waterway is a tributary of the Merri Creek which in turn, is a tributary of the Yarra River. It is a precious system that provides much needed habitat to countless species. This waterway also allows people in the local area to connect with nature.

The species selected for the site (including, Banksia, Cassinia, Saltbush, Tea-Tree and Tussock-Grass) will support the local biodiversity that calls the local waterway home. The Saltbushes will provide food for lizards and birds. The Tussock-Grass will provide cover for ground dwelling species and nesting material for birds. The Cassinia will provide a food source for insects in turn creating food for small insect-eating birds.

Edwardes Lake and Edgars Creek is home to Ringtail and Brushtail Possums, Microbats, Grey headed Flying Foxes, Cormorants, Grebes, Swans, Swamphens, Herons, Coots, Lorikeets, Frogmouths, Thornbills, Wagtails, Honeyeaters and many species of insects and reptiles.

We would like to thank those who contributed to this project. You have allowed us to plant local species in our community to support wildlife and allow people to connect with nature. The legacy of your contribution will go on to support biodiversity and care for country for generations.

Kate Jost | President | Friends of Edwardes Lake

 

Grampians, Gariwerd, VIC | 150 trees | 2023

The 150 trees were a mix of purposefully selected plants to compliment the birdlife, insects, and other creatures who call The Grampians/Gariwerd their home. The trees were also selected to survive the cold winters and dry summers the mountainous terrain experiences. They will grow to varying heights (tall and understory) to ensure a variety of habitats for the local wildlife.

The trees will add to the amazingly diverse landscape consisting of gorge environs, steep rocky walls famous for rock-climbing, deep valleys, and undulating hills. They will provide homes and fodder for many species including the extensive bird life found there.

These birds need different trees to survive and we are thankful for the expertise of the Buloke and Northern Grampians Landcare Network (BNGLN) in their support in helping to plant these trees. We recently interviewed Andrew Borg, coordinator of this Network. You can read the interview here.

Shelbourne, VIC | 150 trees | 2021

Honouring their pledge to reduce their environmental impact on our Victorian countryside, Equip Physiotherapy and Pilates have teamed up with Shelbourne Landcare to plant 150 native trees and shrubs.

Last year, my wife Victoria and kids planted around 80 native gums but we have so much spare land for planting. Thank you to sponsors of Fifteen Trees for enabling us to plant another 150 this year.

For our love for land and wildlife, we are trying to help put back into the earth for the future.

Joshua Talbot | Member | Shelbourne Landcare

Bendigo, VIC | 150 trees | 2020

After a difficult start to the year with bushfire season and then to be hit with Covid and all the restrictions that entailed, we were buoyed by the continued support of  Fifteen Trees and their sponsors. We worked with Parks Victoria to get our Covid Safe procedures in place so that we could pounce when restrictions lifted. Unable to hold our usual community planting days we found a solution, accessing a Drought Employment Program crew through the North Central Catchment Management Authority.

Two days after the planting we had 24hrs of gentle soaking rain to give the plants the perfect start they need. Huge thank you all the sponsors of the Fifteen Trees Community Tree Planting Projects, of which we are grateful members.

Nicole Howie | Secretary | Northern Bendigo Landcare Group

It’s quite possible that when we rock up to the physio with a crook back, we aren’t putting a whole lot of thought into whether a creek bank in central Victoria can survive another flood event without some serious stability assistance. But someone, somewhere, is worried about it. And someone else, maybe that very someone who took your booking, has sat down, talked about it with their partners, and decided that yes, everything is connected and it does matter about that creek bank. Or that fire-affected landscape. Or that shrinking patch of koala habitat.

Building a greener, more sustainable future is going to take all of us doing what we can. We’re proud to partner with Equip Physiotherapy, a small practice doing what it can to reduce its environmental impact and make a better world.

If you are interested in how your business and Fifteen Trees could work together, contact us at <[email protected]>  or check out our COMPANY page for more info.