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Australia - 2006
Dedicated Alcoa Volunteers Plant Trees for the Long-Term
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After 17 years and tens of thousands of volunteer hours, Alcoa employees and their friends and family members have planted more than 750,000 trees in an effort to improve air and water quality and combat soil salinity and erosion in the wheat belt of Western Australia.
The volunteer work was initiated in 1989 through Alcoa's ongoing partnership with Greening Australia, which led two Alcoa-supported programs focused on tree planting. The Ribbons of Green program involved planting native trees along road reserves. The Plants for Conservation program focused on planting trees on private property to address rising water tables (which cause salinity), soil erosion, and habitat loss.
The tree planting was also associated with the Alcoa Landcare Project, launched in 1990 with an initial investment of Aus$5 million to tackle salinity and its related land and water degradation—identified as the biggest environmental issues in Western Australia at the time. Alcoa's commitment to landcare has since grown to more than Aus$20 million.
Throughout the past 15 years, the Alcoa tree-planting weekends have included the Wooroloo Brook Local Conservation District Committee (LCDC). In 2006, the Australian Wildlife Conservancy recognized the volunteers by offering them the unique experience of helping release endangered woylies into a newly created sanctuary.
"The positive impact Alcoa volunteers have had on the ecosystem in this local area in the last 15 years has been tremendous," said Atticus Fleming, CEO for Australian Wildlife Conservancy. "We wanted to give them an insight into how their efforts are providing homes for endangered native species, such as the woylie."
Adds Bob Huston, chairman of the Wooroloo Brook LCDC, "As well as combating salinity levels in the upper reaches of the catchment, the plantings are addressing water-logging on the valley floor and helping re-establish bushland areas for conservation. Alcoa volunteers are a cornerstone to our efforts, as all planting is mostly in areas that can only be done by hand."
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