Wests Tigers team up with Ruse Public School for tree planting

Published on 08 May 2023

Wild Koala Ruse PS.jpg

More than 1000 koala food and habitat trees have been planted at Cook Reserve, Ruse with a helping hand from Wests Tigers and students from Ruse Public School.

Wests Tigers NRLW player Botille Vette-Welsh and past legends Pat Richards and John Skandalis joined the Ruse Public School students to plant more than 300 native trees, shrubs and ground plant of River-Flat Eucalyptus Forest, which is an important food source for koalas.

The school planting session followed a community planting day held on Sunday where hundreds of residents and Bushcare volunteers helped to plant hundreds of trees at the reserve.

“It was great to see Wests Tigers working with our local students to plant important koala food trees while learning about the importance of the local ecosystem,” Mayor George Greiss said.

“Our local sports stars are looked up to by kids in our community so it’s fantastic to see them engaging with environmental educational programs like this,” Cr Greiss said.

“Cook Reserve is one of Campbelltown’s most significant urban reserves and a home to a wide variety of flora and fauna which is why it’s so important that we care for the area and enhance the local bushland,” he said.

Wests Tigers Community Manager Keehan Diamond said: “Wests Tigers are pleased to join fellow community members and organisations is this local initiative. Our community goes beyond the football field and to collaborate with local schools to join in on this initiative is a treat. Together, we learn about caring for our environment and our local fury neighbours (koalas).

“Enriching our community is what we are about at Wests Tigers and extending this to other areas of the community is something we want to continue to strive towards.”

The Wild Koala community planting day was supported by the ‘Creating Canopies in Greater Sydney’ initiative – a partnership between Greater Sydney Landcare, Landcare NSW and DPIE to plant 100,000 across Greater Sydney from 2020-2022.

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