On Saturday 5 July 2025, Greater Sydney Landcare hosted a major Creating Canopies planting event at Whalan Reserve in the Blacktown LGA. The day saw 85 enthusiastic volunteers come together to plant 3,500 native trees and shrubs—adding to the 1,500 planted earlier in the week by Terraquip volunteers and our staff. In total, 5,000 native plants were established at the site in just a few days.
Creating a Cooler, Greener Place to Live and Play
This large-scale planting supports a cooler, greener future for Western Sydney. As temperatures continue to rise, urban vegetation like this plays a vital role in reducing the heat island effect, providing shade, and creating healthy, liveable public spaces. The new trees will also form valuable habitat for wildlife, supporting local biodiversity in a rapidly urbanising area.
Reviving the Cumberland Plain
Volunteers planted a diverse mix of native species from the critically endangered Cumberland Plain Woodland ecological community. Once dominant across Western Sydney, this ecosystem has been largely cleared. Restoring it not only brings back native habitat, but also helps support pollinators, birds, and other local wildlife that depend on this vegetation to survive.
Building Habitat with Layers of Life
While most trees were planted in two new planting beds, some were used to infill an existing area—adding understory species to complement established eucalypts. This layered planting creates a more resilient ecosystem, offering shelter, food sources, and nesting sites for small birds and insects.
Protecting the New Plants
To help the new seedlings thrive, volunteers added protective guards around the planting beds. These will help protect the young plants from damage caused by bike riders or lawn maintenance while the vegetation establishes.
Greening the Disc Golf Course
The planting took place throughout the new 18-basket Disc Golf course at Whalan Reserve—a free outdoor activity that encourages people to get moving in nature. Some disc golf enthusiasts even joined in the planting, contributing to the improvement of the space they’ll get to enjoy. As the trees mature, they’ll provide shade, character, and habitat throughout the course and to benefit the local community.
Support from the Community and Council
The Mayor of Blacktown City Council, Brad Bunting, joined the planting and put a few trees in the ground himself. We thank Blacktown City Council for providing this site for restoration and for their continued support in building canopy cover and greener recreational spaces for the community.
Learning with Tom from ‘Alone Australia’
Adding to the day’s energy was Tom Covell from ‘Hooked on Nature‘ and the latest season of Alone Australia. Tom delivered a fun and engaging talk on local wildlife, sustainable living, and how to care for native species at home. Using nets, volunteers explored the long grass and discovered a variety of insects and critters, which Tom helped identify and explain.
Good Company and a Great BBQ
After the planting, volunteers gathered for a BBQ lunch, prepared by Project Officers Dani and Alicia, with the help of several kind volunteers. The community spirit was strong—some participants brought along chai and homecooked food to share, making it a warm and welcoming event all around.
What Volunteers Said
Feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive. Most rated the event as excellent and said they felt engaged, supported by helpful staff, and connected to others. Participants especially enjoyed the planting, Tom’s talk, and the shared sense of purpose. Comments included:
- “An extremely well organised day. The team were so friendly and welcoming.”
- “It was really great—we should be doing more things like this.”
- “Tom is a great educator. His presentation was very engaging.”
- “There was a great sense of community and belonging.”
Many attendees noted how meaningful it felt to contribute to environmental restoration and expressed interest in returning to future Landcare events.
Thank You to All the Creating Canopies Supporters
Greater Sydney Landcare extends its sincere thanks to all the volunteers who joined us, to Blacktown City Council for providing and supporting this site, and to Mayor Brad Bunting for joining in.
Together, we’re making Whalan Reserve a cooler, greener, and more vibrant place for both people and wildlife.
Join Blacktown’s Bushcare Program
If you’d like to contribute to environmental efforts in the Blacktown area, you can volunteer to become a Blacktown City Council Bushcare volunteer, and regenerate bushland. No experience is necessary as training is provided.
Get Involved in Creating Canopies
Find out more about Corporate Volunteering with Greater Sydney Landcare here. Be sure to download our Corporate Volunteering Info Pack.
If you’d like to find out how to get free trees planted on your land, visit our Register Your Site for Trees page.
Come along and plant trees with Creating Canopies. Find out what events we have coming up on Greater Sydney Landcare’s Eventbrite page.
About Creating Canopies
Landcare NSW and Greater Sydney Landcare are planting 300,000 trees between 2020-2025 as part of the Greening our City program to help reduce urban heat in Greater Sydney. Proudly funded by the NSW Government.
