A local school will play a key role in creating Greenvale’s green canopy of the future through a Major Road Projects Victoria initiative to collect, store and propagate native seeds that will be used to revitalise Melbourne’s northwest.
Member for Greenvale Iwan Walters visited Aitken College in Greenvale on Schools Tree Day in July, to meet school students who are working hard to reduce the project’s environmental impact through the Mickleham Road Upgrade – Stage 1’s seed propagation program.
Budding gardeners across year 9 have received more than dozens of the tiny seed capsules from trees removed along Mickleham and Somerton Roads to allow for the upgrade, and will now propagate these seeds so they can be replanted in their local community.
Seeds collected from Stage 1 of the Mickleham Road Upgrade are indigenous in origin, identified as Sheoak, Grey box, Yellow box, Carex and Shoenoplectus.
Once deemed ripe and collected by ecologists, the seeds go through a process to dry and are assessed to ensure insects are not present. The seeds MRPV collected were delivered to Aitken College for propagation, which will be overseen by one of the school’s dedicated horticulturalists.
The tiny seed capsules are usually found in the tree canopy where they can only be accessed by qualified seed collectors, but with the trees removed - land managers took advantage of the rare opportunity to gather seeds at ground level.
Students will now tend to the seed crops for around a year as they mature depending on flowering and seeding cycles, before they are ultimately planted in the local area.
The seed collection is part of a Mickleham Road Upgrade – Stage 1 initiative to collect, store and propagate seed to increase biodiversity in the local area, as well as support local fauna with a food source, habitat and shelter.
MRPV and construction partner BMD are coordinating the free seed propagation program to support Aitken College to embed sustainability into the curriculum and teach students how to go about this practically.
We’ll also be planting trees across the project to shade and cool places nearby like nature reserves and walking and cycling paths.
For more information on the Mickleham Road Upgrade – Stage 1, check out our Project page.