Seedlings to be planted in dry lake beds of Southern Australia
May 4, 2010 – 4:50PM (AAP) Work has begun on planting more than 1 million native seedlings in the exposed beds of South Australia’s lower lakes. Federal Water Minister Penny Wong and South Australian Environment Minister Paul Caica said the hand planting would vegetate more than 2300 hectares of exposed lake beds across Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert. Fixed-wing aircraft would also be used to drop a further 300 tonnes of seeds, including fast-growing cereal rye and native grass species. The work is part of the federal government’s $10 million revegetation project for the lakes. “These 1 million native seedlings will help address dust, soil erosion, acidification and other potential threats to the lower lakes by improving ground cover and soil quality,” Senator Wong said in a statement today. Mr Caica acknowledged the important contribution of volunteers in the planting work using seedlings propagated at various community nurseries.
