Students roll their sleeves up to celebrate World Environment Day

AlburyCity staff will support 70 local high school students as they work to protect significant Red River Gums at Mungabareena Reserve tomorrow.

The students will mark World Environment Day by planting 400 shrubs, groundcovers and native grasses around the gums, to enhance the area's habitat and protect the beautiful old trees.

AlburyCity Landscape and Building Team Leader, Stephen Chalmers, says the students are from Xavier High School and James Fallon High School.

"Having shrubs and grasses around the trees will help prevent people driving on their root zone and compacting the soil, which stresses the trees," Mr Chalmers says.

"The plants should also provide habitat for native insects and birds. That's important, because they eat the insects that damage these trees. The plants will also provide habitat for other native fauna - such as skinks, geckos, and woodland birds - and help balance the ecosystem."

This week's plantings will expand on the work schools did two years ago around other old trees at the reserve. These previous plantings are growing vigorously and continue to attract birds and insects.