Local hands have been put to use to power a landscape renewal project at Neerim South.
A steep gully in Neerim South is coming back to life thanks to a grassroots effort that began not in a meeting room, but on YouTube.
Local filmmaker and adventurer Beau Miles, with film partner Mitch Drummond, turned online views into real trees through an innovative crowdfunding film that has now been watched more than 410,000 times.
The idea was simple: the more people who watched in the first month, the more trees would be planted — and the community delivered.
The fundraising period equated to 1750 new trees in the ground, most on Heath Strating's property, building on an earlier 2021 planting where Beau spent 24 hours planting 1440 trees.
In early October, volunteers from Jindivick Landcare Group, Neerim District Landcare Group, and Gippsland Water came together to complete the latest planting — transforming bare pasture into a growing habitat of about 3000 native trees and shrubs.
"The planting area is on fairly steep land – it's one of the least practical areas to graze and manage on my property," said Heath Strating, landholder and founder of Strating and Sons, makers of recycled timber furniture.
"Planting it out is something I've always wanted to do. It's now a beautiful patch that's good for the land and good for the wildlife."
"This kind of work protects soil, brings back wildlife and makes farms more resilient," said Jindivick Landcare Group presiedent Helen Barclay.
"It's a great example of locals working together for the long-term health of agricultural landscapes."
The site is already showing signs of recovery. Insects, small birds, and even reptiles have begun returning to the young vegetation, and the roots of native plants are helping stabilise soil and filter runoff into nearby waterways.
The "views-to-trees" idea offers a fresh take on how digital creativity can drive hands-on local change. By combining storytelling, local volunteering, and smart use of lower performing land, the project has captured the imagination of people well beyond West Gippsland.
Beau and Mitch's follow-up film, capturing this latest planting, is currently in production.