Chatfields Nursery in Tammin pledges to donate 50,000 trees to farmers affected by the Wheatbelt fires

One of the most well-known tree nurseries in the Wheatbelt has pledged to donate 50,000 saltbush trees to farmers whose sheep feed was decimated in last month’s catastrophic fires. Chatfield’s Nursery owners Lisa McCreery said she and her husband Dustin’s hearts broke when they saw the devastation caused by two fires that destroyed 60,000ha of farmland across seven local government areas. The separate blazes both ignited on Sunday, February 6, with thousands of sheep killed. The Wickepin-Narrogin blaze destroyed 18,000ha of land while the Shackleton-Corrigin fire destroyed 40,000ha. “We just saw the devastation of the land. . . there is no sheep feed left,” Ms McCreery said. “The way that we can help is by providing saltbush. “It is an edible shrub and we hope some farmers can build up their sheep feed again. “We’ve pegged out space in the nursery for these trees.” The couple has run Chatfield’s Nursery since 2008, continuing the business started by Ms McCreery’s parents in 1979. These days, the nursery has a three million capacity tree nursery and employs 12 staff. The pair were motivated to help the Wheatbelt communities that have supported their business. “We have some amazing customers who support us, so we thought ‘what can we do to help’,” Ms McCreery said. “It is a bit of a worry to see so much country without ground cover. “It’s a way that we can help, rather than just handing over money we can give them plants.” The trees would be available in June and July 2023, with all of this year’s trees already sold and the waitlist full. Ms McCreery said she believed the delay would give farmers time to assess the damage and their programs. “Farmers have so much on their plate at the moment, so groundcover might not be front of mind,” she said. “They have massive amounts of fencing and restocking. . . and their general seeding programs to work out. “This will give them a year to let them work out what feed fodder or saltbush they could plant.” How the donation would work is still being determined, with details expected to be released in coming months. “We are thinking that we will get the names of sheep farmers that have damage in their farms in the fires and we will basically 40 trays fit in a single cab Landcruiser which is about 3000 trees,” Ms McCreery said. “If we can get them to pick up a load we can divide that by the 50,000 and then cover some people. “It is only early days but we are attracting a lot of interest.” Saltbush is a popular species for lowering watertables and fighting soil acidity, and provides a valuable forage for livestock.