The project involves 24 members’ properties, HCLG Chairman, Gordon Refshauge, said.

By 2019 the group will have planted over 1500 individual paddock trees that link key remnant vegetation clusters with key waterlines across Hovells Creek enabling native birds, lizards, beneficial insects and small native mammals to move between Hovells Creek and the Great Eastern Ranges.

“We have used aerial maps, strategic planning and engaged the services of environmental consultant, Suzie Jackson (Office of Environment and Heritage) to design detailed habitat connectivity plans,” Mr Refshauge said. 

“We can reuse the tree guards after five years. By 2022 it is feasible we will have planted 3000 paddock trees, connecting 16,000 ha of land”. 

This project is seen as important by a significant number of agricultural professionals who are concerned by the overall decline in trees on farms.

“Land Clearing, increased storm intensity, dieback, urban sprawl and even stubble burning are responsible for tree decline,” Australian National University researcher, Mason Crane, said.

“In addition, many paddock trees are more than 100 years old and aren’t being replaced naturally. Their self-set seedlings are constantly grazed by stock and they never get a chance to grow. 

“Unless the management of paddock trees changes they will disappear from our agricultural landscape altogether and this will affect farm production systems negatively.”

Native trees and shrubs are essential for stabilizing soil structure, lowering water tables and protecting against salinity and erosion, according to Cowra Salt Bloke, Andrew Woodridge.

“They provide necessary shade and shelter to stock by reducing stress caused by frosts, winds and extreme heat,” he said. 

“They improve the amount of time livestock spend in their comfort zone, giving those animals the best chance to be productive.”

Farmers in the Hovells Creek area have been addressing the lack of shade and shelter issue over the past two decades and many visitors have noticed the obvious transformation along the roadside to Wyangala Dam.

“Farmers often do not place enough value on the free agricultural services paddock trees and remnant vegetation offer to farm productivity,” Mason Crane said.

“I am glad to find a group of farmers who understand the importance pollinators, decomposers and predators (acting as natural insecticides) give to farm productivity. 

“Plague insects such as grasshoppers, army grubs and red-legged earth mites do not have a chance to thrive when adequate native vegetation exists on farmland. 

“This includes fallen logs, dead trees, old trees with developed hollows and connectivity to water sources and across the landscape.”

“We have more than 100 bird species, 22 of which are endangered, rare or are declining on our farms. Our actions are helping to support their survival,” Mr Refshauge said.

“Few people could name a more comforting feeling than sitting near a crackling fire on a cold winter’s night, but how many of us consider the likelihood of a future without firewood or a landscape without trees? This project will have an impact lasting decades and hopefully, centuries.”

“The project’s official title Habitat Restoration at the Grassy Box Gum – K2W Flyways Interface is supported by the NSW Environmental Trust,” HCLG Deputy Chairman and Project Manager, John Baker said.

“It began in May 2016 and has been “found to be the highest level of excellence in outcome and cost effectiveness” because all work is being done by HCLG members, so no funds are being used to pay contractors,” Stephen Hardy, Grants Administrator for the NSW Environmental Trust, said.