Trees set for river

By Dion Teasdale
THE MILLGROVE community has banded together to celebrate Arbor Week and improve the health of the Yarra River.
Students from Millwarra Primary School were joined by members of the Millgrove Environment Restoration Group (MERG) for a tree planting day last Wednesday, 17 May.
The school and MERG received a $2000 grant from the Natural Resources Conservation League (NRCL) of Victoria for the planting project.
Seventy-five students from the school planted 1000 native grasses and shrubs along the bank of the river adjacent to Dee Road in Millgrove.
Other partners involved in the planting project included the Millgrove Residents Action Group (MRAG) and the River Valley Church, and representatives from the Shire of Yarra Ranges, Melbourne Water and the local CFA.
NRCL executive officer Dr Philip Bachelor presented Millwarra Primary School and MERG with a certificate acknowledging their commitment to improving the local environment.
“This planting project, coordinated by Millwarra and MERG, is one of 15 projects across the entire state funded as part of Arbor Week celebrations,” Dr Bachelor said.
“We were very impressed with the high quality of the project application and pleased to see how the project involves the broader community.”
Millwarra Primary School principal Carol Rasmussen and MERG president Jules Ward said they were delighted to receive the grant and thanked Glenda Towan for her work in preparing the funding application.
Ms Towan, a teacher at Millwarra and a MERG member, said the project was as much about improving the local environment as it was about benefiting the community.
“This project goes to show that Millgrove is a community dedicated to working in partnership and that through that partnership great things can be achieved,” she said.