From the desk of Laura, Enviro Experiences Project Leader.

In another successful environmental volunteering opportunity, a group of local community met with The City of Albany for one of their fortnightly Community Busy Bee events. Enjoying the spectacular view of Middleton Beach and beyond, the Reserves team led the activity, answering questions raised by the volunteers as they searched the Hare Street Reserve for invasive weeds. Some of the weeds found included Sydney golden wattle (Acacia longifolia), St John’s wart (Hypericum perforatum), pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana) and taylorina (Psoralea pinnata).

A lot of environmental weeds escape from resident gardens – through birds and wind carrying seed, and end up becoming very invasive. The weeds compete with native vegetation, become a bushfire hazard and are a major threat to the conservation value of environmental reserves. Just a few hours of weeding really helps to lighten the load for our native plants.

If you are interested in future Community Busy Bees hosted by the City of Albany, head to our event page for more details  or keep an eye on our Upcoming Events page for other volunteering opportunities.

By volunteering, you are not only helping your local environment, you are connecting with your local community too. To make it easy to stay up to date with all environmental volunteering opportunities across the South Coast region, the Enviro-Experiences project is creating a web platform for volunteers to register with.

If you would like to know more about this platform and upcoming environmental volunteering opportunities in Albany and surrounds, contact Catherine Johnston (e) catherinej@southcoastnrm.com.au (m) 0421 437 525. For environmental volunteering in Esperance and surrounds, contact Jimena (e) jimenarm@southcoastnrm.com.au (m) 0437 440 237

The South Coast Enviro-Experiences project is supported by Lotterywest .