Beau Miles planted 1,440 trees and shrubs in a single 24-hour period on a paddock in West Gippsland to restore rolling hills into bushland. Flowering gums and she-oaks now reach about nine metres, birds nest in branches, and a tiger snake and a wombat inhabit the area. The effort was motivated by a joy flight over local pastures that looked like a blank green blanket rather than forest. Miles aimed to plant a tree a minute, found the pace extremely hard, rested briefly after about a thousand plantings, then finished with a second wind. Four years later the plantings have matured.
On a patch of paddock in West Gippsland stands a small forest, which wasn't there before. Flowering gums and she-oaks reach up nine metres tall, birds nest in their branches, while a giant tiger snake slides through the grass below. All it took was one day of bloody hard work. About four years ago the Australian film-maker and outdoorsman Beau Miles set out to plant 1,440 trees and shrubs in 24 hours enough to turn a blanket of rolling Victorian hills back into bush.
Miles decided he was done with the kind of modern-day adventures that burned through money and carbon, delivering little in the way of tangible outcomes except for photos and a great story. Instead, he says, he began looking for physical challenges that offer more bang-for-buck. Planting a tree a minute was bloody hard', Miles says. Photograph: Chris Ord The project was inspired by a joy flight Miles was given for his 40th birthday.
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