Volunteering Opportunities Amongst Catchment Bushcare Groups

Environmentally Friendly Volunteering Activities
Examples -Positions Vacant
Contact information

Varied, Timely, Interesting, Social, Meaningful, Extending, Environmentally Friendly Volunteering Activities.

As with any organisation, there are various levels at which people can join a Bushcare Group and share their own personal skills and experience. And they can do this yet maintain their own comfort level and interests. Sure we all have that common goal to enhance and promote our local natural environment but we don't all shine with or even enjoy doing just any task that presents itself.

While most people love the gardening aspects of revegetation and weed management, others don't.... but they still can give their time and skills in other ways that are meaningful to themselves as well as contributing to the overall aims of the organisation. Just look at what members of our Grinstead Bushcare Group came up with when they sat down and made up the following wish list of jobs for volunteers...

Examples -Positions Vacant - Grinstead Park Bushcare Group

Photographer/Chronicler

Photographs of progress may be used as an educative tool to raise community awareness about the site and the group's activities. Seeing a pictorial record of the positive changes the members have made on site can help motivate the group. The group members would like a record of their involvement at the site including photographs of activity at working bees and the changing vegetation as regeneration progresses. It could also include fauna and flora, new weeds etc. particular to the area. There are also opportunities for appropriate news items and photographs to be used in bushcare group and Network newsletters and presentations at regular meetings, assisting local government environmental officers with their publications or even presented to the world on our own website.

Our working bees are as detailed below. Additional photography at volunteer's leisure. The volunteer would need their own camera, preferably digital, and access to a computer to download photographs and liaise with web-master. This is a great opportunity to spend a few hours in the bush, enjoying birdsong and butterflies and doing something positive for the environment.

Publicity Volunteer

Publicity is needed to increase community awareness of the existence of the site (its values, threats and management needs), the group and its work. The main aim would be to recruit volunteers to work at the site but the raising of general awareness would also be beneficial. The scope of this position is large and fluid and would depend on the interests of the volunteer; it could include inserting notices in local paper, creating/delivering flyers or posters, attending local fairs or shopping centres with promotional material, developing promotional material, liaising with web-master to update web-page etc. The time commitment would vary depending on the interests of the volunteer. This is a great opportunity to do something positive for the environment - without having to get up early on Sunday morning or get dirty and sweaty!

Bush Regeneration Volunteer

Bush regeneration volunteers work on site to increase biodiversity by protecting and restoring flora and hence improving habitat for fauna. Tasks include weed removal, generally by hand-pulling or use of a mattock or trowel. Supplemental planting takes place as rainfall/soil moisture allows. Working bees are held as detailed below. Weed and native plant identification skills can be learned on site. However, as a Habitat Brisbane volunteer training is offered by BCC on various topics throughout the year. This is a great opportunity to spend a few hours in the bush, enjoying birdsong and butterflies and doing something positive for the environment.

Bush Regeneration Volunteer - Heavy Work

As above but tasks include weed eradication using brush-cutter and cutting down weed trees using axe and saw. Great work for the energetic or those wanting to work off a few kilos on the side!

Fauna habitat volunteer

We would like to know what fauna is on site and what we could have if we improved habitat: birds need hollows in which to nest, lizards and skinks need rocks and logs under which to hide, butterflies need appropriate host plants on which their larvae may feed. The scope of this position is large and fluid and would depend on the interests of the volunteer; it could range from a fauna survey to creation/acquisition and placement of nest-boxes or planting and maintenance of butterfly food plants. Working bees are held as detailed below. However, the time commitment would vary depending on the interests of the volunteer. This is a great opportunity to spend a few hours in the bush, enjoying birdsong and butterflies and doing something positive for the environment.

Morning tea volunteer

Morning tea is the glue that holds a bushcare group together! Time to relax, ponder on the morning's work and re-hydrate. Morning tea is much appreciated and its provider greatly revered. The volunteer would bring the morning tea kit (cold water, thermos flasks of hot water, mugs, tea, coffee, milk, sugar, liquid soap and a towel) and something delicious to eat (cake in winter together with watermelon in summer are popular; we will reimburse you). If you would like to help an environment group without having to get up at the crack of dawn or get dusty and dirty this could be the role for you.

Contact information

Plantings are regularly conducted at Grinstead Park. We meet on the first Sunday of every other month - Feb, Apr, Jun,
Aug, Oct & Dec, 9am to 11.30am. There are news postings on a board at our site and occasional news on our Grinstead Park Bushcare Group page on the website. (You can have a look there for contact details, NOW!) For more information about Grinstead Park activities, contact Janet White on 3355 1884 or email janwhite@bigpond.net.au

Well, that just scratches the surface of what someone could do to make a difference to our catchment environment. Keep in mind we have many other bushcare groups along the Brook and they will have similar needs but also different ones relating to the many features we have along the Brook.

You can choose your own level of time involvement. Opportunities for personal training and development are available through Branch and local government activities every year. As well as the personal interactions with each other, you can find your level of involvement with the group, with other groups in the network, with officers of our local government and even State government entities to better our environmental resources. See branch-volunteering for more ideas.

Janet White/CI 

CI 08/07/2008