Well the answer is different depending which volunteer you ask.
During last year whilst we were celebrating our 30th anniversary of the Council funded Bushcare and Landcare program we really wanted to hear from the volunteers what the program was to them.
You are invited to join the Kodala Lane Bushcare Group at Glenbrook Lagoon for their quarterly Bushcare session. Our local community are working with council to transform this area into healthy bushland and a pleasant local reserve for all to enjoy. If you’d like to learn more about the local bushland, restore the local area and meet your neighbours come join us! Contact Nathan Summers on 02 4780 5623 or nsummers@bmcc.nsw.gov.au for more information.
Once again, we are celebrating our Bushcare volunteers through the eyes of the digital world. 2021 became the year bookended by COVID shutdowns much to the dismay of all. When lockdown lifted at the start of June last year we saw the impressive resumption of the Bushcare Program – a tribute to our dedicated Bushcare volunteers. And we know that with the same passion and dedication we can come out of this next shutdown with the same gusto!
Our Award Ceremony was held as a Zoom ceremony so everyone could view Mayor Mark Greenhill present the awards and hear the acceptance speeches live on their home computers. Congratulations to Rae Druitt receiving the Bushcare Legend Golden Trowel Trophy and our recipient of the Junior Bushcare Ryan Memorial Shield – Daemon Silk.
We thank David King, Gundungurra man, for the Welcome to Country and talk. We included a couple of talks with John French and Fiona Lumsden showing their recent survey Birds in The Gully, and Megan Halcroft talking about native bees in preparation for pollinators week.
Our ‘Thank you” gift to our volunteers is a cool Cooler lunch bag that will be presented to you by your Bushcare Officer when you all come back together onsite – with the personal touch!!
Photos: Golden Trowel and Junior Shield Award and the Cooler Lunch Bag Thank You gift to our volunteers Credit: BMCC
Come along and support the Braeside Bushcare Group. We will spend the day hunting Gorse and Broom seedlings, who have sprouted in huge numbers, post fire. This is our chance to fight them off once and for all! Minimal bushwalking involved. All are welcome. Morning tea and lunch provided.
Continue the great work done by volunteers over 16 years in a remote section of Katoomba Creek. Bush regeneration and bushwalking experience are essential. It will involve off-track walking and wading along the creek. Morning tea and lunch supplied.
This is a joint NPWS and Blue Mountains City Council activity, and numbers are limited. Book by Friday the 12th of March with Grant on 0499 699 150 or grant.purcell@environment.nsw.gov.au
Come and join the long-term landscape-wide ecological restoration efforts of volunteers and contractors to improve the ecological function of this Endangered Ecological Community. Lunch and morning tea donated by the Hominy Bakery. A combined NPWS/BMCC event.
Bookings Essential. Please click theRSVP link below by Tuesday 23rd February.
This little known mid-mountains Blue Mountains Swamp has been part of the landscape-wide Swampcare program since 2014. There is plenty of primary work to be done on a variety of weeds – Erica, Buddleia, Privet, and Crofton Weed. Lunch and morning tea donated by Hominy.
Bookings Essential. Please RSVP below by Wednesday 28th April.
Come and join Ruth’s friends to commemorate her birthday at Minnehaha Falls Reserve by attacking her arch nemesis – Montbretia! We will work towards fulfilling her goal of eradicating this weed from Yosemite Creek.
You are welcome to bring along treats if you would like to contribute to morning tea.
This annual event is held in the memory of Ruth Ley who dedicated so much time and energy into the Yosemite and Katoomba Creek catchments, and was a founding member of the Minnehaha Bushcare Group and active for 25 years.
For further information contact Steve Fleischmann at sfleischmann@bmcc.nsw.gov.au or 4780 5623 by Thursday 25th of March.