Tree planting across Melton continued over the weekend with National Tree Planting Day, as the state government’s plan for a greener west continues.
Melton council held two tree planting days in Hillside on July 30 and 31, which contributed to the 15,000 tree saplings that were planted across the west over the weekend.
There were seven community planting events occurring over the weekend, all working towards the goal of 500,000 new trees across six council areas, including Melton.
The effort is funded through $5 million from the Victorian government as part of the More Trees for a Cooler Greener West program.
According to the government’s tree tracker, 65,000 trees have been planted across the west so far since the program launched last year.
The initiative is designed to remedy the low tree canopy cover in the western suburbs, which in 2018 was at only 5.5 per cent, 6 per cent behind the northern suburbs which had the second lowest tree cover.
