Indigenous Revegetation Benefits

Restoring landscapes and growing habitats 

TreeProject supports landholders with environmental plantings, providing not just tree seedlings, but a diversity of mid-storey plants as well as grasses and small shrubs. The diversity of plant species is critical for effectively restoring biodiversity, landscapes and ecosystem services (the benefits humans receive from ecosystems, such as clean air and water).

TreeProject provides plants with local provenance (from the area), to ensure that restoration is appropriate for the ecosystem and plants are best suited to that environment. 

Benefits of indigenous revegetation 

The benefits of environmental plantings include:  

• Productivity benefits and improve landscape health: trees and vegetation can complement and support agricultural production including shade and shelter to protect livestock, habitat for pollinators and beneficial insects, improving soil structure and health, reducing erosion, reducing local wind speeds and improving water quality in waterways.  

• Vegetation stores carbon: as plants grow, through photosynthesis they remove carbon dioxide from the air and carbon is stored in their tissues. Grasslands store most of their carbon underground in their root systems, while forests store it mostly in their wood and leaves. Carbon storage (sequestration), taking carbon out of the atmosphere, can be used to offset against a farm’s greenhouse gas emissions generated elsewhere on the farm. However, if a plant dies, is cleared or destroyed by fire, the carbon is lost back to the atmosphere. Further information on carbon and emissions.  

• Biodiversity benefits: creating habitat can attract a diversity of animals, including birds, to your property over time, contributing to the health of local ecosystem services.  

• Enhancing farm dams to reduce emissions and improve water quality: planting vegetation around your dam and restricting access of livestock to the dam has productivity benefits. Reducing manure and runoff with organic matter entering the dam, improves water quality and can significantly reduce methane and nitrous oxide emissions generated by the dam. This is another way to reduce your emissions and offset those generated on-farm. Further information on how to enhance your farm dam.  

Click here to learn more about carbon farming, calculators and markets.