Kids plant trees for National Tree Day

Newcastle City Council marked National Tree Day with a tree-planting event for school students in Mayfield West today ahead of a community planting working bee on Sunday.

Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes joined 220-plus students from three local schools at Stevenson Park for the National Schools Tree Day event.

The kids planted, mulched and watered plants and received lessons on nature from Council staff before enjoying a BBQ and a hands-on encounter with Australian native animals presented by our Blackbutt Reserve team.

"This year, Council staff and volunteers will revegetate around 360sqm of Stevenson Park with native groundcovers, shrubs and tree species," Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said.

"This project aims to increase public amenity of the park, add to the city's urban forest canopy cover and create a pocket of habitat for native fauna in Mayfield West.

"With the help of the kids today and the community on Sunday, we're delivering the sixth stage of this project, which has seen more than 1,500sqm of native trees and shrubs planted over the past six years."

The wider community is invited to Stevenson Park on Sunday to take part in the planting on National Tree Day.

Those who want to take part should register here: treeday.planetark.org/site/10015746.

Induction will be between 9am and 9.30am -- but residents are welcome anytime throughout the day -- and a BBQ will be fired up from 11am.

National Tree Day and Schools Tree Day combine to make Australia's largest community tree planting and nature care event.

They encourage Australians to help out by planting and caring for native trees and shrubs to improve the environment in which they live.

National Tree Day started in 1996 and more than 3 million people have since planted 23 million seedlings across Australia.

Each year, around 200,000 Australian school students take part.