Retired doctor plants 45,000 trees to restore degraded farmland to bushland
Retired doctor Susan Downes, 76, turned her Western Australian farm into a conservation project, planting about 45,000 trees to restore bushland.
Dr Susan Downes bought a 200-hectare farm 20 kilometres north of York in Western Australia's wheat-belt eleven years ago and started a new vocation. Drawn to a 300-metre hill called Mount Mackie, marked as historic because an explorer first sighted the Avon Valley there in 1830, she decided to restore the land to pre-colonial bushland.
The farm had been grazed for 150 years and was rocky and degraded. Downes leads a restoration project with volunteers aged eight to eighty.
Over five planting seasons, they have planted about 45,000 trees, mostly York gum, jam wattle and melaleuca, with a survival rate of more than 40 per cent. By 2030, exactly 200 years after the explorer's sighting, she hopes to see restored bushland from fence to fence.
Friends of Mount Mackie now has about 80 volunteers.
- 76 years old
- Age
- 200 hectares
- Farm size
- 45,000
- Trees planted
- More than 40 per cent
- Survival rate
Why it mattersA single person's commitment to land restoration shows how private conservation can reverse decades of environmental degradation and inspire a community.
AustraliaWestern Australia's wheat-belt has lost most of its native bushland; this project models how landholders can restore habitat for unique birds and animals across cleared agricultural regions.
Corroborated bytheage.com.au·watoday.com.au
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 1 h ago
Open this story in InSnip →
