Margaret Mead had it right when she wrote about the power of the collective coming together to creating something wonderful! And here at Fifteen Trees we regularly see the power of the collective when we gather together trees from numerous businesses and organisations.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead | Anthropologist | 1909-1978

Throughout the year, small companies and organisations contributed 500 trees towards a particularly lovely revegetation planting project at Axe Creek in Central Victoria (Dja Dja Wurrung Country). This generosity has been made more epic by the fact that they are small to medium enterprises (SME) or organisations. Being a small business ourselves, we know the challenges they face and thank them for their generosity.

15 trees

Thompson Goode is not only creating beautiful custom timber furniture from his Bendigo workshop Goode Eco Design, but he is also ensuring that he is sourcing his materials from recycled timbers collected from the local district. Good by Name. Good by Nature.

30 trees

Amy Stapleton is an artist who draws inspiration from the natural environment to create contemporary, mixed media landscapes. She regularly explores and sketches the waterways and bushland of the regions surrounding her home on the outskirts of Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia.

Whilst Amy’s materials are traditional, she is influenced and inspired by her background in photography and graphic design, incorporating the use of block colour, negative space, and simplicity to create a modern feel. You can find her, online at Amy Stapleton. 

Amy regularly purchases trees for us to plant on her behalf and we thank her for her kind contribution to this particular project.

40 trees

Ryans IGA Community Awards Program is a great service. Money is raised by customers spending $20 in-store, they then receive a token to put into the donation box of the customers choice. We are grateful to Ryans, and their customers for enabling us to support Axe Creek and their revegetation project.

The Axe Creek Project.

The planting site is on Dja Dja Wurrung land, known as Djandak (Country) with a Trust for Nature covenant to preserve it in perpetuity. The Campaspe River and Mosquito Creek running through across the property.

Due to long-term grazing the understory had been degraded with very little native grass, native shrubs or flowers remaining. The beautiful big old eucalypts are intact though, close to the river there are the iconic River Red Gums and higher up away from the river it is mainly Grey Box, many of which are large and very old with numerous hollows. Three are registered ‘scar trees’.

The landholders long term project is to remove the sheep, progressively eradicate the weeds and introduced grasses and plant indigenous grasses and shrubs in their place. Kangaroo grass, wallaby grass and others, wattle varieties, Austral indigo, various native daisies, hop bush, hakea and weeping she-oaks are some of the species that have been reintroduced. The trees (and shrubs and grasses) were sourced from 2 indigenous nurseries in the district – A+B Trees and Goldfield Nursery.

Due to the soil conditions and the prevalence of kangaroos on the property there are considerable preparations that the planting group needs to undertake before planting to achieve a reasonable success rate. Firstly, weeds are removed, then the area to be revegetated is fenced, and finally holes are dug (30 to 40 cm ) which are filled with compost and then water. This method helps counter the heavy black clay. Then planting can begin.

We are blessed with a wide range of wildlife on the property, dominated by lots of kangaroos, there are also wallabies, wombats, echidnas, platypus, possums, gliders a wonderful array of birds and reptiles.

Some of the more interesting examples are the Tawney Frogmouth, Powerful owl, Azure Kingfisher, Spotted Pardalote, Tree Creeper, Robin Redbreast and many others. We hope to see more species as the environment is restored.

Thanks to everyone who supported this project.

Bill Morrissey & Jo Fischer| Members | Axe Creek Landcare

Here’s an interesting fact – you don’t have to be a big business to make a big impact. You can be a small business, even a tiny one, and still make a significant positive contribution to the environment. We already know that small businesses are vital for local economies, that they keep money in the community and support local interests in myriad different ways. They also provide opportunities for entrepreneurs, create meaningful jobs, and on the whole give greater job satisfaction than large corporations. Small business is powerful! The key to making an environmental difference has nothing to do with size, and everything with taking the right action, at the right time, with the right partners.

Small business owners are masters of ingenuity when it comes to incorporating tree planting into their business practices. Never underestimate small business. When it comes to reducing carbon footprints, they are a climate force to be reckoned with!

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, 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.