Its nursery is filled with more than 100,000 plants – and counting.

Another vigorous planting season began in April.

A dedicated team of seven tree planters, mostly from Darwin, including a Traditional Owner, will spend the coming months revegetating along the 5.5 kilometre-long McArthur River diversion.

The team works year-round working on and with the land, investing their time and energy into rehabilitating the environment.

As part of MRM’s rehabilitation commitments, a team of environmental technicians develops and maintains the massive nursery, which operates year-round to ensure a consistent supply of native species for planting.

The nursery team focuses on seed collection from what are known by ecologists as “key indicator species” – the plants essential for stabilising riverbanks, enhancing biodiversity and supporting long-term ecological function.

Seeds are collected at different times of the year, depending on species cycles, and are mapped to track availability and make the most of the collection work.

The seeds are then propagated at the nursery and grown into viable seedlings before being planted along the diversion, giving them their best chance at survival.

Each year the rehabilitation team plants more than 100,000 native species along the diversion channel.
Species consist of upper bank, mid bank and waterline plants, each one planted by hand by an amazing team.

In October 2023, the hardworking team reached a major milestone by planting the millionth tree since the program began.

The planting season lasts from April through to December where access is most viable.

To ensure the plants’ success, large-scale irrigation systems are implemented so that the plants have adequate water supply throughout the dry season. This also gives every plant a longer time to establish before the season ends and develop further during the Wet.

Planting is an integral part of rehabilitation.

The native plants make up the habitats for all of the local species of wildlife, adding to the vegetation cover and stabilising the riverbanks, preventing erosion and protecting the structural integrity of the river system.

A key example of successful habitat creation is for the Purple-Crowned Fairywren.

Cane grass was planted in predetermined safe areas along the diversion, which creates an amazing habitat for the fairywren because it provides a dense layer of coverage and protection.

The addition of this to certain areas has attracted and sustains several groups of this gorgeous bird.

Cattle management is also a large part of the rehabilitation management on site.

The team maintains a cattle exclusion fence line year-round, which prevents cattle accessing revegetation areas along the diversion and negatively impacting on the team’s efforts by eating the cane grass and cover for the fairywren.

Weed management is another important aspect – year-round the team identifies and removes invasive species, preventing further growth and impacts on the native plants in the area.

The environment is constantly developing on site as is the rehabilitation department and the team working hard to protect the land.

“I feel lucky to work in such an amazing environment and be a part of a team of people all invested in the same thing,” says rehabilitation supervisor Emily Mahoney. TQ