Local Wildlife benefits from a collaboration between Carinity Education Glendyne and Fraser Coast Regional Council.
As part of their environmental studies, students nurture and rejuvenate a valuable natural strip on the school’s Hervey Bay campus.
The Land for Wildlife program involves a team of 27 students working to restore a 1.1 hectare conservation area to its natural state.
“The region provides our students with hands-on experience opportunities to participate in projects to identify species of flora and revegetation, identification of fauna and establishment of native bees,†explains Justin Burnham, supervisor teacher and vocational education trainer.
The land area is protected from future development and is home to native animals and dozens of native herb, shrub, vines, and tree species, including paper bark, fig, and blue gum.
“The students identified access routes for wallabies, lizards, snakes and rodent activities on the site. There also appears to be a population of foxes coming and going around the site, â€says Justin.
Carinity Education Glendyne enrolled in the Land for Wildlife program after the Fraser Coast Regional Council recognized the great value of residual vegetation in the school’s conservation area.
“We commend Glendyne for her work to improve the important wildlife corridor that stretches from Nikenbah to Walligan,†said Fraser Coast Mayor George Seymour.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for our Land for Wildlife program to partner with Glendyne to protect natural areas on private land and give students hands-on experience as they rehabilitate degraded bush.
“They will learn about assisted regeneration techniques and methods, the basic needs of wildlife and the best ways to conserve their habitat.”
The Land for Wildlife project is part of a Certificate II in Conservation and Land Management vocational training course offered to students of Carinity Education Glendyne.
A feature of the students’ work has been to reuse materials from old infrastructure to create items such as a ‘bee hotel’, to encourage biodiversity within the conservation area.
“Wood from an old obstacle course on the site was reused for use on the structure of the solitary native bees. We also reused copper logs as edging for the walking path leading to the center of the conservation area, â€explains Justin.
“Bird and opossum nesting boxes have been installed and bird and bee watering devices will soon be available, to encourage native flora and fauna to repopulate the area. “
Cr Seymour said the Fraser Coast Regional Council’s commitment to maintaining the region’s unique natural environment and way of life includes “setting our goal of planting 100,000 trees by 2030”.
“We also encourage landowners to replant and rehabilitate their properties and regularly expand our network of reserves. All of these efforts will make our region a more attractive place to live and visit, â€said Cr Seymour.
