Parks Victoria has acquired large amounts of land, particularly since Melbourne’s rapid growth eastward, for the purpose of creating Parklands with significant biodiversity and community values. The property containing the Greenfleet project site has been used for cattle grazing for many years, remaining leaseland for local farmers up until the time of forest establishment.
The site was re-vegetated as part of a grant from the Lord Mayors Biodiversity Fund to return former farmland to its natural, pre-colonial state. It forms part of a broader objective to establish recreational space and a much needed habitat corridor in the sprawling outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
This project was also designed to engage the local community with native reforestation. Volunteers from the South East Metropolitan Regional Community Work Programme assisted Greenfleet’s foresters in conducting the planting and gained valuable skills and experience of Australian forestry practices. The project was recognised with the Environmental Sustainability Projects award at the Corrections Victoria – Community Partnership Awards ceremony held at the MCG in late 2013.
This site is just one of many that Greenfleet has revegetated in conjunction with Parks Victoria. The ongoing relationship between the two organisations has seen more than 800 hectares revegetated all across Victoria.
