Aitken College students joined Mickleham Road upgrade workers for a planting day at Candy Road Basin.
As a part of a green initiative in stage one of the upgrade, a group of year 9 and 10 students from the Greenvale college helped plant trees in the basin’s open space.
It was followed by a panel discussion and question and answer session with the project team and an ecologist.
The planting project began in 2023 with the students helping the project team collect seeds from local trees before propagating them in the college’s greenhouse.
Their eventual crop comprised 12 river red gums and 10 grey boxes, with the trees growing to 1.2 metres by the planting day on August 5.
Greenvale MP Iwan Walters said he was happy to see the growth of the landscape the past year.
“I was thrilled to join Aitken College students and construction teams from the Mickleham Road upgrade – stage one to plant saplings that Aitken students have nurtured themselves as part of our Greener Greenvale strategy,” he said.
“Grown from seeds gathered from native trees along Mickleham Road, this has been a great community partnership that will provide shade and a beautiful landscape for generations to come, alongside an upgraded Mickleham Road that will provide safer and more-reliable journeys for all road users”
Major Road Projects Victoria program director Dipal Sorathia said that they were happy to work with the local community.
“We were pleased to work with the students and staff at Aitken College to propagate seeds from local native trees that were removed so we could add more lanes to Mickleham Road, and then plant the resultant saplings at Candy Road Basin,” he said.
“The year-long joint initiative reflects the goal of MRPV projects to leave the communities where we work with lasting legacies beyond transport infrastructure.”
