As the carbon offset market grows and interest in land restoration increases, so too has the demand for native seedlings.
Noongar Land Enterprise (NLE)’s Boola Boornap native tree nursery is seeking to address the native seedling shortfall and become a leader in the burgeoning restoration industry. NLE’s Boola Boornap (meaning ‘The Place of Many Trees’ in Noongar) native tree nursery received $100,000 in funding to complete irrigation and seedling infrastructure upgrades through Round 4 of the RED Grants program.
Since November 2020 Boola Boornap has producedapproximately one million seedlings from 50 native plant species. Servicing a range of customers involved in land rehabilitation, carbon sequestration and sandalwood production, the funding will allow NLE to undertake much-needed upgrades to meet growing demand.
The grant will assist with the expansion of the tree nursery, increasing production capacity to 2 million seedlings per year, in addition to allowing the enterprise to gain accreditation that would allow direct sales to the public. Australia’s first not-for-profit, Aboriginal-led grower group, NLE strives to facilitate a collective approach to land management enterprise development on Noongar land. Seeking to reclaim the relationship between people and Country, approximately 70 per cent of Boola Boornap’s staff are Aboriginal, with the majority hailing from the local Ballardong Noongar community.
The upgrades will improve the viability and profitability of the business, allowing Boola Boornap to take on more staff as the business grows. Longterm, it is hoped that Boola Boornap, together with other initiatives, will enable NLE to become a selfsustaining organisation and branch out to other
aspects of the supply chain.