RACQ Foundation, Gympie Landcare plant 3000 trees at Mary River trail

The Mary River is at the centre of a mammoth flood resilience effort unrolling across the Gympie region as part of a week-long, $600,000 rebuild.

Dozens of volunteers set out with a plan this week to plant 3000 flood-resistant trees in three days along a popular Mary River walking trail ravaged by the 2022 trio of disasters.

Those involved in the restoration say the plan has been delivered – and then some.

“We’re going to end up smashing that target,” RACQ Foundation’s Josh Cooney said at The Sands on Wednesday.

“We’re easily going to hit that target and do more around weed management as well.”

The Sands and the trail were inundated multiple times in 2022, including the devastating near record 22.96m flood in February.

Access to the Sands, near the city’s Aldi supermarket, and the trail which crosses it, was blocked for months after the floodwaters receded, leaving wreckage and debris behind..

Teams of volunteers and workers have been planting the trees and shrubs at the Sands, along the Mary River, since Monday.

The restoration was being carried out by the Foundation, Minderoo Foundation’s Australian Resilience Corps, with help from Gympie and District Landcare, the Gympie Regional Council, and a team of volunteers including residents and University of Sunshine Coast students.

It is part of a wider program of $600,000 that is underway.

Gympie Landcare’s Marty McArthur said the plants had been specifically chosen and cultivated due to their ability to help protect the stretch the next time the river broke its banks.

These would help collect silt and stop the loss of topsoil.

“We’re just filling in the gaps,” Mr McArthur said.

“After the floods we lost a lot of topsoil and there was heavy disturbance everywhere, all the weeds have colonised.

RACQ Foundation advocacy general manager Josh Cooney said the workers were going to “smash” the target of planting 3000 trees and shrubs across three days.

“Basically, wherever you don’t see a native plant there was head-high grass and weeds.

“We’ve been brush cutting and sort of controlling the weeds.”

All the plants were grown and provided by Landcare.

Mr Cooney said revitalising the area would have a flow-on effect.

Workers and volunteers planted the new vegetation along the banks of the Mary River, which broke several times in 2022.

“It’s a place for recreation, it’s a place for people to get together, but most importantly it’s so environmentally critical for this region,” Mr Cooney said.

“This place was completely wiped out,” he said.

Tributes flow for legendary Qld horseman Ken May

He said the work at the Sands was one of several projects being carried out across the region by the Foundation to help the region’s recovery.

“We’ve been painting church buildings and tennis clubs and bowls clubs,” Mr Cooney said.

“But right here is special … for the first time RACQ Foundation has been testing a new collaboration, a new form of project … which is about revegetating the banks of the Mary River.”

The Foundation will restore projects for 18 community groups across the week-long program, including installing a new kitchen at the Manumbar Community Hall, checking solar panels and fixing emergency machinery used during the floods.

Tanseys bowls, tennis, and polocrosse clubs, Gympie’s SES, the Imbil Mary Valley Scout Group, Gympie Netball and the Goomeri Pumpkin Festival are among the other groups being helped across the week.

Originally published as RACQ Foundation, Gympie Landcare plant 3000 trees at Mary River trail