Tidy Towns Alumni - Treasuring Our Trees

Treasuring our trees was born out of a tragic 2021 storm event, which saw 25,000 trees felled across the yarra and dandenong ranges. Arborist David Ferrier couldn't sit by and watch them simply rot away or be turned into woodchips - so he set about creating Treasuring Our Trees. A non-profit, that has at its heart, a mission to salvage and repurpose these beautiful trees into something meaningful for community and country.

Winner of the 2024 Tidy Towns Community category, David has worked with government and community partners since those '21 storms to expand the capacity and program offering at Treasuring Our Trees to include salvaging trees from infrastructure projects, working with schools and community groups and, First Nations projects across the state. A keen St Kilda Football Club supporter, David's passion and enthusiasm are immediately obvious as soon as you step into their workshop/factory/learning space in Lilydale.

The team at Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria have been out to see David several times, to learn more about their great work, and stand amongst the beautiful, processed trees - on their way to new long, productive lives - safe from the woodchippers.

The storms were a tragedy, but Treasuring Our Trees has turned that tragedy into a great range of outcomes for the environment and the community.

Stay up to date with their great work at their webpage here.