Value of Community
How we can work together to save money, plant trees and help each other
Community Participation - LP015-002
The issue
Over the last 4 years Mid Lachlan Landcare have recieved funding to plant individually guarded scattered paddock trees on farms around the region. Unfortunately, this year we did not secure any specific paddock tree funding. A few members expressed their desire to plant more trees but purchasing and delivery of the specific large tree guard mesh made it difficult to purchase 1 or 2 rolls by yourself.
The solution
The committee decided to request a quote for a group purchase and delivery to one central location to reduce costs for anyone wishing to put in trees this year at their own cost. One roll of mesh is $500 and makes about 12 stock proof guards. Our group discount came back at $447/roll and if people collected it themselves from our central location there would be no delivery charge either. We hoped we might be able to order 10-20 rolls. Fantastically when we put out the option to purchase we had about 24 people order 53 rolls of mesh between them. Saving our Species 'Saving our Superb Parrot' project heard about the fantastic result and offered a small amount of funding to further reduce the cost of the mesh for those people wanting to plant Box Gum Grassy Woodland species in the guards. This was an unexpected and extra bonus for all involved.
The impact
This opportunity to co-ordinate the purchase of this mesh within our Community will lead to a further 636 scattered paddock trees being planted across 24 farms in our region. A very important part of this has been that it has further developed our Landcare community. It has given us ideas for the future to utilise our group purchasing power. It has strengthened our group.
Key facts
- Community purchasing opportunity
- 636 new stock proof guarded paddock trees
- Opportunities for the future