Atherton Tablelands Rail Trail included in tree planting initiative

On 2 December 2022 the Queens Jubilee and commemorative tree planting event was held adjacent to the Mazlin Creek bridge on the Atherton Tablelands Rail Trail and was attended by approx. 60 people.

After a lively talk from TORA’s president Tim Trehearn, the group undertook a short walk to view current plantings, and the Tableland Regional Council mayor then unveiled a plaque to honour the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and her life.

Earlier this year Tableland Outdoor Recreation Association (TORA) was fortunate to receive a Federal Government funded grant to commemorate Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee by way of a tree planting initiative.

The grant was to plant 2,500 Mabi species trees between Grove St. Atherton and Beantree Road near Tolga, a distance of some 3 lineal km. The importance of future copse plantings in this area are intended to link to the existing Mabi forest, which is a nationally threatened ecological community and represented by a mere 1,050 ha of disconnected remnant on the planet.

The location of these plantings, and their significance, will increase community awareness of protecting the Mabi forest complex as well as recognising the importance of the Queen’s Jubilee.

The T4 group (aptly named Tableland, Tracks, Trails and Trees) commenced the Queen’s Jubilee plantings in August 2022 and has accumulated approximately 450 volunteer hours and planted 880 trees since then. This group of volunteers comprise a cohort of mostly retired folks who like riding bikes and who are not new to volunteering.

Over the past 4 years the group has been volunteering together on the Atherton Herberton Historic Rail and the Atherton Tablelands Rail Trail, and has invested 2,500 volunteer hours and prepared, planted, mulched and watered a total 2,600 endemic trees.

By the end of March 2023 the group hopes to have planted another approximately 1,500 trees, hopefully with the assistance of other planting groups in the Tablelands region.  The group has also had terrific collaboration from a number of other organisations.