In November 1999, 600 Native Trees were planted at the Chillingollah Rd Reserve at Woorinen.

Acacia Stenophylla,  also known as Eumong,  River Cooba, Wattle.
 
A tree planting story by Malcolm Thompson, Landcare Co-Ordinator at
Swan Hill, on a site known as Chillingollah rd Woorinen.
 
On the 18th of Nov 1999 I was involved with planting 600 native trees on the Chillingollah Rd reserve at Woorinen. The planting involved local volunteers, a Trust for Nature group and David Ellemor from the Mid Murray Landcare network group. The seedlings were purchased from Haws Venns Creek Nursery in Boort, and were of an excellent quality.
The soil type at this site,  is of a lesser quality with some serious salinity issues visibly present.
Some local people expressed concern to me, that this high profile site was far “Too Salty for tree planting.”   They were concerned that the community would see a roadside tree planting failure as a bad image for “Landcare”.
The soil had been deep ripped on the 15th of October 1999 and some sub soil moisture was present at planting, although not as much as I would have liked.
Paul & Bradley Haws mechanical planter was used to plant the Hiko style seedlings with milk cartons placed around the trees for protection. The seedlings were watered in initially and a follow up watering occurred one week later. Some additional watering did occur after this date by local volunteers.
The species that were planted here were Mallee Eucalypts, Melaleuca Lanceolata (moonah ) & Mel. Halmatorum( salt paperbark ), Old man salt bush, Euc Largiflorens (black box ) and Acacia stenophylla ( Eumong ).
For 8 years I have watched the progress of the trees at this very tough tree planting site.
Within the site some losses have occurred due to both dry conditions and also salinity. I have not counted the exact numbers lost, but the trees that have survived are growing quite well.
 
The purpose of this story is not to dwell on the losses, but to highlight the species that has performed the best at this saline site. It is a wattle known as Acacia stenophylla.
As you can see from my photo, they have grown very well and it is no surprise that Stenophylla is becoming very popular in revegetation projects.
 
Stenophylla is recorded as one of the most salt tolerant plants native to Australia. It performs best on heavier loam soils, and indeed natural stands grow alongside River Red Gums throughout the Murray River floodplain environs.
 
The tree has a small soft cream coloured flower and the seeds are encased in a hard pod.
This hard pod makes it quite difficult to extract the seed. The seed is highly sort after for both direct seeding and by Nurseries for plant propagation.
The leaves are long and narrow, and are known as phyllodes.
The trees when young, are generally tall and thin but after time develop into a very large, long lived tree, sometimes resembling a Euc largiflorens  ( Black Box ) 
 
In summarising this story, both failure and success has occurred at the one site.
Failure in that yes there has been some tree losses at this site. We have learnt a valuable lesson in plant selection. In the years ahead, I anticipate the trees that remain shall continue to grow well, with birds, animals and insects returning and the saline land may successfully be repaired.
 
I strongly suggest anyone contemplating a saline revegetation site to definitely give A.stenophylla a try.
by Malcolm Thompson.