It was a great day for plants, dogs and people at Watson on Sunday when more than 100 volunteers braved the cool conditions to plant 400 trees on the slopes of Mount Majura.
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One of two National Tree Day plantings involving ACT residents, the event included a free barbecue by the Scouts that offered the choice of both meat and soy sausages.
The second mass planting on the north-western slope of Mount Majura in two years, Sunday's activity was part of a long-term plan to restore degraded grassy box-gum woodland in the area.
A 2011 report on box-gum woodland in the ACT found almost 200 hectares of the unique woodland had been lost to urban development since 2004. On a more positive note it was found that if properly managed box-gum woodland could regenerate in a short period of time.
''Movement can occur in both directions,'' the report authors, Owen Maguire and Michael Mulvaney, wrote.
Sunday's event, a joint effort involving the ACT Conservation Council, Planet Ark, the Friends of Mount Majura and the Watson Woodlands Working Group, was intended to provide a nudge in the right direction.
ACT Conservation Council director Kylee Carpenter said seven different species of trees and shrubs were being planted across the two-hectare block.
They included spreading wattles, hickory wattles, apple box trees, Blakely's red gums, clustered everlastings (daisies), silver wattles and yellow box.
Over time the bare paddock will be covered with vegetation ranging from ground cover up to trees more than 25 metres in height.
Ms Carpenter said the conservation council was keen to introduce Watson residents to their surrounding environment, saying that once people learnt to appreciate what they had they took an active interest in looking after it.
Territory and Municipal Services Minister Shane Rattenbury was one of the volunteer tree planters on the day. The bicycle-riding Greens MP enjoys getting his hands dirty in a good cause. ''I came last year and I am keen to see how the trees I planted then have done,'' he said.
One of the minister's regrets is that he is unable to take to the hills with his mates in the Mount Ainslie Weeders as frequently as he would like.
The conservation council's Rebecca Palmer-Brodie said grassy box-gum woodland was under constant threat on a number of fronts. ''It occurs on lower slopes and flat ground,'' she said. ''These are places that have always been regarded as perfect for agriculture and subdivision''.
Canberra volunteers also assisted with a planting event on a rural property near Jugiong on the Hume Highway.
Bunnings warehouses at Belconnen, Fyshwick and Tuggeranong ran workshops on how to plant a tree.
