A MAJOR land care and water quality project has seen more than 70,000 native trees planted on the shores of Lake Baroon.
Seqwater and its long-standing catchment partner Lake Baroon Catchment Care Group (LBCCG), reached the milestone after three years of planning and planting to rehabilitate the ‘Bunya Block’, a 125-hectare former beef property adjacent to the lake. The project is minimising erosion and sediment run-off into Lake Baroon, also known as Baroon Pocket Dam. The planted trees, are currently up to one metre tall and growing vigorously, providing water catchment benefits as well as supporting native habitat corridors.
Seqwater and community group, the Lake Baroon Catchment Care Group have worked together for many years delivering on-the-ground land care projects and education programs for one of the Sunshine Coast’s most important water supplies.
Over the past decade, Seqwater has invested over $7 million into its catchment partnership program in the Lake Baroon catchment.
A total of 158,000 trees have been planted across the catchment, which spans 7,400 hectares across the Blackall Ranges.
Catchment projects, including tree planting, weed control, erosion repair, livestock fencing and on-farm land care improvements, help stabilise soil and minimise sedimentation and agricultural run-off into the dam, which in turn reduces the need and cost of excessive water treatment.
These projects are made possible through the ongoing support of local landholders and farming communities.
Lake Baroon Catchment Care Group President, Peter Stevens said Seqwater and LBCCG had been working together for over 20 years and held a shared commitment to sustainable catchment management.
“For the Bunya Block, we’ve been nurturing trees planted just over two years ago and have seen this native tree corridor grow significantly in this time, assisting in the stabilization of multiple unstable hillslopes.”
Baroon Pocket Dam is connected to the SEQ Water Grid and supplies water to approximately 75 per cent of the Sunshine Coast.