Students help bring greenery to their community

On Friday 23 April, students from Dapto and Kanahooka High Schools took the classroom outdoors as part of a Youth Week initiative to green their local community.

The students joined Council’s Natural Areas team to plant grasses and shrubs along Lakeside Drive, Kanahooka. This project was a combined effort of local students and Council staff to improve the greenery in Dapto and surrounding suburbs.

Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM said he was pleased to see so many students join the effort to make their suburbs a cooler and greener place to live.

“Trees, grasses and shrubs are some of the best long-term solutions to mitigate heat and cool communities so that current and future generations can live comfortably now and into the future,” Cr Bradbery said.

“As part of Council’s Urban Greening Strategy, we’re doing lots of work in this space to increase the tree canopy in Dapto and surrounding suburbs with our recent call for residents to join our street tree program.

“Community planting days, like this one, are another way we can harness our community’s enthusiasm and encourage residents to get involved with planting and caring for plants around their suburb with appropriate trees and shrubs.”

Read more in our media release: ‘Dapto sets new tree record for Council’s street tree program’

The community planting day is the second phase of Council’s trees for the future campaign that saw young people from the Illawarra create artworks to be used to decorate planter boxes around Dapto.

For other great events for people aged 12 – 24 years, visit the Young People webpage on Council’s website.