• Charles Sturt invites Wagga Wagga community to help plant trees over two days for National Tree Day
• Highly eroded gully located on the Charles Sturt University’s farm at Hopetoun to benefit

Charles Sturt University (Charles Sturt) in Wagga Wagga will host tree planting at its farm over two days on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 July to mark National Tree Day.

CSU Green manager Mr Ed Maher said in 2018 25 Charles Sturt volunteers planted 520 trees in two hours – an effort it was hoped would be matched this year.

“This year we are planting along a highly eroded gully located on the Charles Sturt University farm at Hopetoun,” Mr Maher said.

“The trees planted will extend a biodiversity zone in an adjoining paddock, connect a wildlife corridor across the landscape, and balance farm productivity with nature conservation.”

Charles Sturt sustainability officer Ms Witney-Soanes said National Tree Day supported Charles Sturt’s goal to allocate 20 per cent of University-managed land for the purposes of enhancing biodiversity.

“This falls under Charles Sturt’s Sustainability Statement launched on World Environment Day,” Ms Witney-Soanes said.

“Tree planting helps to establish, enhance and connect our biodiversity zones across the landscape.

“Trees also contribute to cleaner air and a healthy climate which aligns with the 2019 World Environment Day theme of air pollution.”

Ms Witney-Soanes said aside from students and staff, Charles Sturt would welcome community groups that would like to take part.

“We welcome the participation of the South Wagga Anglican congregation for the third year,” she said.

“We are also very pleased to welcome members of the Wagga Wagga Sikh community.”

The latter group will be marking the day as a commemoration of 550 years since the birth of their first Guru - Guru Nanak Dev. A sign will be placed by the new trees to mark the significance of this event.

Charles Sturt lecturer in social work and member of the Sikh community, Ms Sabine Wardle, said the day meant a lot to the Sikh community.

“Guru Nanak Ji was a nature lover and had talked about nature as a manifestation of God in his spiritual writings,” Ms Wardle said.

Mr Maher said it would be a “wonderfully inclusive, ecumenical event”.

“It is wonderful to see our local faith groups, among others, showing leadership on environmental issues and taking real action on the ground, just like Charles Sturt,” he said.

The event will start at 9.30am on Friday 26 July and 10am on Saturday 27 July, with participants to meet at the front entrance to Joyes Hall at Charles Sturt in Wagga Wagga.

St Martin’s College will host a free barbecue on Friday and the Wagga Wagga Sikh community will provide a vegetarian lunch on Saturday. Anyone interested in participating will need to bring their own hat, gloves, sunscreen and boots, and is required to register via email to csugreen@csu.edu.au.