The Landcare for our Future events have come to an end, and we’ve had a wonderful time.
SACTCG ran a total of nine events to get young people under 35 involved in Landcare, and give them some skills and knowledge to begin and continue their Landcare journeys in Canberra, supported by the Commonwealth Government’s Communities Environment Program. The small groups of young folks joined in on some SACTCG member group’s regular working bees, including: Friends of Tuggeranong Hill, Farrer Ridge Parkcare, Minders of Tuggeranong Homestead, Isaacs Ridge Mount Mugga Mugga Parkcare, Cooleman Ridge Parkcare Group and Oakey Hill Parkcare Group. We also held events at three different rural properties.
Although numbers varied, overall young people were super enthusiastic about volunteering to do Landcare alongside other young people, as well as meet all the amazing Landcare and Parkcare groups and learn from their expertise knowledge and enthusiasm. Every single participant worked hard at whatever task was at hand- whether that be planting, weeding, track maintenance or erosion control. Lots of fun was had, connections were formed and participants developed a good understanding of how Landcare in the ACT works, and where to find more information to continue their involvement.
There was feedback from the young folks that information about Landcare/Parkcare groups and activities can be difficult to find, and it’s daunting to go along by themselves when other volunteers are so experienced. We hope that by giving the participants a taster of Landcare and the resources to connect with their local Landcare group, this will become easier.
Correa has also started a Facebook Group with Intrepid ANU for young people in Canberra who want to connect with Landcare. If you’re a young person looking to join, you can find it here. She will be sharing all SACTCG’s member group working bees every week to this group, and if you have any other events or resources you’d like to share with the group of young folks, email communications@sactcg.org.au. We hope we can contribute to giving all our member groups some more motivated volunteers and create some diversity among the Landcare movement- we are much stronger together.
Thanks to all the groups and individuals who hosted a “Landcare for our Future” event!
