Friday was a big birthday for both the Otatara Landcare Group and Otatara School student Ollie O’Brien — one turned 25, the other 11.
Ollie was given the honour of planting the 37,001st tree in Bushy Point’s 14.7ha landcare recovery project.
He hoped to one day bring his own children back to the place that was marked by the special tree, he said.
Otatara Landcare Group member Barry Smith told the children by the time the next generation of Otatara students came to the site, they could expect to see a huge difference as the trees would have grown and significantly changed.
Mr Smith said they could expect to see the tree to have grown at least 6 to 7m tall by then.
Ollie said he was surprised at how long it took for plants to grow and to learn the small juvenile tree he planted had been grown from seed and was already 5 years old — almost half his age.
Otatara Landcare Group school liaison and teacher Bronwyn Graham said the group had worked with the school for many years and were always looking for ways to promote their work at Bushy Point to the next generation.
"Mr Smith, he had kids here years ago — they’re all in their 20s now."
Year 5 and 6 students each planted trees as part of the 25th birthday celebrations.
Leading up the event, the class had been learning about native trees, she said.
