Seed collecting for Lorax Project

Seed collecting activities began on the 20th of December and have been intensive over the past 10 days. Sarah Roberts and Janet have been working together to collect seeds in the Marysville, Eildon , Cathedral Range , Lake Mountain and Strathbogie Ranges areas.
Cath Olive is collecting around Taggery , Yea and the Black Range . We have bumped into her twice while collecting last week at Locksely and Gooram plus I think I spotted her 'stockings' tried onto pea bushes this morning at Strathbogie !
David Wakefield is collecting around Flowerdale and Strath Creek .
Tim Stewart from Treeproject is collecting from Glenburn to Kinglake back towards Melbourne.
Chris Cobern collects around Kinglake when he gets a chance .
We are building a comprehensive collection of understorey seed from the fire areas to be used
in future community and volunteer revegetation projects from peas and wattles to wetland plants , creepers ,wildflowers & grasses.

New Discovery in The Cathedral Ranges

This is the gorgeous little White Footed Dunnart (Sminthopsis leucopus) that's recently been found in the Cathedral Ranges (since the fires) and the first-ever record of this species in that district.* Though it's known to occur in the catchments of the Big, Acheron & Yea Rivers, these animals are small, rarely seen and easily confused with more common species (eg. Agile Antechinus, House Mouse), so every record is valuable. [Image copyright Museum of Victoria: http://museumvictoria.com.au/bioinformatics/mammals/images/comleuclive.htm]
*ID most likely Sminthopsis lecopus, though may be S. murina.

South Cathederal Lane

Had a very constructive day tree planting with 40 NAB volunteers today.
Visited 3 properties , planted , staked & guarded 900 trees and shrubs.
Misty weather conditions with occassional showers. Impressive views of Cathedral Range.
Wet and slippery under foot.
Huge bus / coach did manage to get reasonably close to the planting sites without mishap.
Great team of workers , quickly got into the groove of planting and stormed across the landscape planting every three metres.
We really pushed them for the last hour to get the job finished which they did half an hour ahead of schedual - they deserved their trip to the Buxton Pub and long weekend .
Thanks Guys
Note from happy landholder attached:

Thank you SOOOO much for all the trees, but especially for organising all the NAB staff to come and put them all in!
Apart from the fact it would have taken us days to do it on our own, finding the time (especially now the cottages are starting to be rebuilt next week) would have been something of a challenge.
Please pass on our sincere gratitude to all the good folk from the NAB.
Thanks again J
Cheers
Megan Buntine and Marty Slade
South Cathedral Farm
Award Winning and Pet Friendly Luxury Bed and Breakfast Cottages
53 South Cathedral Lane, Buxton, 3711