Landcare and Schools

Landcare is a network of people who care for our natural resources - soil, water and vegetation.

Australia's fragile environment combined with past management practices means that many areas are now suffering from land and water degradation problems. These include erosion, salinity, loss of native plants and animals, land affected by salt, poor water quality, weeds and animal pests. We all depend on natural resources for our livelihoods, our food and shelter, our recreation and our future.

People form landcare groups so they can work together to help repair and prevent land and water degradation and to care for their local environment. Landcare groups can be groups of farmers, groups of neighbours, school students, surfers or a whole town. There are landcare groups on all types of land - public (parks, schools and reserves) and private (farms and backyards), in the country, in the city and on the coast.

The term 'landcare' is used to encompass all networks which are working towards improved natural resource management, including Bushcare, Coastcare, Dunecare and Rivercare.

Landcare is uniquely Australian and is led by the community, working together with a range of others, including Commonwealth, State and Local Government, community organisations (eg. Greening Australia and the NSW Farmers' Association), universities and the corporate sector.

Through landcare, people learn about natural resources and get involved in a wide range of activities including on-ground works, research, monitoring, planning, education and community awareness. Landcare groups develop and implement local solutions to local problems.

Landcare groups are not bound by rules. Each group forms and operates in its own way, to suit the location, the issues it is tackling and the needs and wishes of group members.

Landcare groups may concentrate on a single natural resource degradation or management issue or may tackle a variety of issues. The groups themselves determine the issues they want to work on, according to what members believe is most important. Some of the issues being addressed by landcare groups are:

• salinity (dryland and irrigation)
• soil acidity
• weed invasion
• loss of vegetation/ wildlife habitat
• soil erosion
• degradation of soil structure
• pest animals
• streambank erosion
• declining water quality
• coastal degradation
• loss of native species
• urban land degradation.

In some areas, several landcare groups have come together to form networks. These networks allow group members to share experiences, assist each other and work across property and catchment boundaries.

FIND OUT ABOUT LOCAL ISSUES

• Students can read and listen to reports in the media on degradation and find out how they can reduce their impact on the environment. There are numerous Australian websites which contain information on natural resource and environment management issues. A good place to start is the Landcare NSW Website (www.landcarensw.org).
• Ask someone to talk at your school about degradation or natural resources in the local area to find out what the problems are and what is being done to address them. It could be a farmer, a community support officer, a landcare coordinator or nRM facilitator, a member of your local catchment management committee, a staff member from the Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) or NSW Agriculture, or an officer from your local council.
• Visit a degraded site or take a bus tour through your catchment with some of the people listed above. Students can see natural resource and environment issues first hand and learn ways to tackle them.
• You could do a student, staff or landholder survey to find out what people are concerned about.
• Consider the successes, mistakes and activities of land managers.

TAKE ACTION

Once you've identified local issues, you need to decide what you are going to do about them, how you are going to operate and with whom you are going to work. Schools can develop their own landcare project, form their own landcare group or join forces with an existing landcare group.

Some suggestions on how schools can be involved in landcare are given below. Schools should also talk to their regional landcare facilitator or local landcare coordinator about other ideas and to find out about successful school landcare activities.

Before you start any on-ground work, check with the school administration and other groups you may be working with to ensure that everyone involved is covered by insurance.

Develop a landcare project

• Design a landcare project that not only helps to restore a degraded environment but also teaches others about landcare. It is usually best to think small and work on something which can achieve change within a school term or year. Your project could involve removing weeds and rubbish, bush regeneration, planting trees, monitoring water quality or designing and planning rehabilitation activities.
• The success of your project will rely on thorough planning and research, and strong communication links with key people in the local community.
• Carry out a monitoring program to determine if your project, or the local landcare group's work is achieving change and environmental improvements.

Form a landcare group

• There are many school landcare groups operating in NSW. However, these groups rely heavily on the commitment and dedication of at least one teacher or a member of the local community.
• Community support officers can help you set up a group and they have information sheets on a range of associated topics such as planning your project, maintaining a group, funding, sponsorship and insurance.

Link with a landcare or similar group

• Contact a community support officer to find out about landcare, Bushcare, Dunecare, Rivercare or other groups in your area who are working on improving the environment. There may also be council committees or trusts looking after local Crown reserves.
• Discuss with a local group how you can work together. Your school could become involved in the environmental and conservation activities of a landcare group or help with their planning. Alternatively, the school could volunteer to help out with on-ground activities as needed by particular groups.
• Your school and the local landcare group could develop a joint landcare project.

TELL OTHERS

• Promote your landcare activities through the school newsletter and the local media. You could build a display which is used at shows, school fetes, field days or other events. Special events could also be used to raise funds for the school landcare project.

GET SUPPORT

• Identify all the separate issues and groups involved. List people who can help with advice, machinery, labour, administration and financial matters.
• You will need the support of the teacher(s) and students as well as the broader school community (P&C, school council, key community members etc.) for school landcare projects.

LANDCARE WEEK

• Landcare Week is held in August each year. Groups throughout Australia undertake special activities during the week to raise the profile of landcare. Your school could get involved with the activities of other groups or develop their own activity to tell people in the community about landcare.

YOUTH FORUMS

• Environmental forums for youth are a great way to bring secondary students together, get them thinking about land and water degradation issues, and how they can be involved in fixing them up.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT

• Undertake staff development for teachers on natural resource and environment management issues.

Understanding and caring for the environment should be an essential part of every student's school experience. Involvement in landcare is just one way schools can deliver their environmental education program or it can serve as an additional activity in which they can participate. Landcare projects can support a wide range of studies and form curriculum links at both the primary and secondary levels.

Those key learning areas with outcomes supporting landcare type initiatives are: HSIE K-6, Science K-6, Geography Stages 4 - 5, Geography Stage 6, Agriculture Stages 4-5, Agriculture Stage 6, Biology Stage 6, Science Stages 4-5, Earth and Environmental Science Stage 6.

REGIONAL LANDCARE CONTACTS

There are 18 regional community support officers in NSW. They help landcare groups become more self-sufficient, link groups to resourcing and support systems and help groups to form networks.

Regional community support officers have information about landcare activities in your local area and can put you in contact with nearby landcare groups or local community support officers. There are about 135 local community support staff throughout NSW who help to establish groups and support existing groups with information and contacts to help them understand and find solutions to local issues.

LANDCARE NSW WEBSITE

For information on landcare in NSW, landcare activities in your local area, who your nearest landcare coordinator is, the environmental issues landcare is tackling and much more, visit www.landcarensw.org

OTHER CONTACTS

There are many agencies and organisations which can offer advice, technical assistance and encouragement to people interested or involved in landcare. Look in your phone book for local contact details of the following, or visit their websites.

• Department of Natural Resources (www.dnr.nsw.gov.au)
• Department of Primary Industry(www.dpi.nsw.gov.au)
• Department of Environment and Conservation (www.epa.nsw.gov.au)
• National Parks and Wildlife Service (www.npws.gov.au)
• Greening Australia (www.ga.org.au)
• Conservation Volunteers Australia (www.conservationvolunteers.com.au/)
• Landcare Australia Limited (www.landcareaustralia.com.au)

Here are five case studies which show just a few of the different ways schools have been involved in landcare in NSW. Each of these schools has worked with a range of people to develop their own unique landcare activity.

CASE STUDY: Waterwise Gardens for Parkes

The Parkes and Districts Landcare Steering Committee, which includes representatives from the 20 landcare groups in the area and Parkes Shire Council, wanted to develop a community awareness program to promote landcare amongst the region's younger generation.

The steering committee decided to involve all six local schools, both primary and secondary, in developing a 'Waterwise' garden for Parkes. The idea was that each school would choose a different style of garden, prepare a design and help with its construction. The project would demonstrate to the community that native plants requiring less water can be used to create an attractive garden.

The steering committee together with Parkes Shire Council found a suitable urban area for the project. The local landcare coordinator and the council's horticulturist then began working with students to identify environmental issues at the site and develop a strategy to address them. Over the next few months, students worked on choosing a theme and developing a site plan for their allocated section of garden.

With the horticulturist's help the students planned their gardens - choosing the size and style of plants they wanted and nominating features to be included, such as paths and pergolas. They have chosen an historical garden, an oriental garden, a cottage garden, a Mediterranean garden, a garden focusing on local endangered species and a garden which represents all five senses.

The Parkes and Districts Landcare Steering Committee are hopeful that a large number of people will visit the garden and learn about the effectiveness of Waterwise gardening techniques such as different irrigation systems, native plants and mulching.

The project is also addressing land degradation issues such as creek health, weed infestation and salinity, while at the same time, aesthetically improving an unused area of land.

CASE STUDY: Farmers, Students and the Fabulous Dung Beetle

Oaky Landcare Group in the Northern Tablelands of NSW and Presbyterian Ladies College, Armidale have developed a unique and highly successful relationship.

Oaky Landcare Group includes 18 cattle grazing properties near Armidale. For the past few years group members have been releasing dung beetles on their land to break up and bury manure in the soil, the results of which have benefited both the farmers and the environment. Through burying manure, the dung beetles allow it to be recycled as fertiliser, they aerate the soil giving it better drainage and reducing soil erosion, and they prevent flies from breeding, thus reducing animal parasites and diseases.

The students of PLC Armidale have been taking scientific measurements of dung beetle populations and monitoring water quality and pastures to measure the benefits to graziers and document the beneficial effects on the environment. Through the study, students are learning first hand by putting science into action and being involved in real world issues.

PLC Armidale has taken the project beyond the science department with design and technology students working with landcare group members to develop a logo, a brochure and a stencil to produce signs, t-shirts and display materials. Computing students are working on an interactive computer program which will contain information on dung beetles and their benefits. Several of the school's students have been on the local radio and reports on the project's progress regularly appear in the local press.

The partnership between Oaky Landcare Group and PLC Armidale is likely to continue well into the future. The two are working on a revegetation project, which aims to determine the best species and planting techniques for the area, and a wetland rehabilitation project. Their joint projects have the support of the Macleay Catchment Management Committee,University of New England and Armidale Council.

CASE STUDY: Creating an Environmental Education Centre

For many years the old town dam reserve in the rural village of Burrumbuttock, near Albury, had been used both as a dumping ground and as an occasional swimming hole. It was heavily grazed and weed infested, and seen by most as an eyesore.

Members of the West Hume Landcare Group together with teaching staff, students and parents from Burrumbuttock Primary School have transformed the site into an attractive venue that provides a wealth of environmental education opportunities and quiet enjoyment.

The four hectare Wirraminna Environmental Education Centre has been revegetated with native trees, shrubs, wildflowers and wetland plants while the dam's introduced fish species have been replaced by native fish stocks. Different areas demonstrate specific plant types such as flowering plants, dye and craft plants, native grasses, windbreaks and smooth bark woodlands. Interpretative signs provide information and plant identification and there is an outdoor teaching area where students undertake a wide range of studies.

In developing the centre, West Hume Landcare Group created additional ponds and pathways, planted many of the garden areas, developed interpretative and educational signs and labels. Burrumbuttock Primary School assisted with various construction tasks, propagated native plans from locally collected seed, planted and maintained trees, shrubs and wetland plants.

Various sectors of the local community have contributed to the project, including the Australian Newsprint Mill, Hume Shire Council, Rotary Trees for 2000, Burrumbuttock Recreation Ground Trust, Albury TAFE, Charles Sturt University, a professional graphic artist and local sporting groups.

Funding for the project was received from the Murray Catchment Management Committee and the Natural Heritage Trust. The NSW Department of Education and Training's Environmental Education Unit has provided funding for the development of curriculum materials and resources for its 'Learnscapes' project. Learnscapes are places where a learning program is designed to permit students to interact with the environment. Designs facilitated through the Learnscapes Trust incorporate the desired educational, environmental and social outcomes particular to each unique school site and school community. For more information, contact the School Learnscape Trust, ph (02) 6645 4431

CASE STUDY: Habitats in the City

South Coogee Public School, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, has created the Habitat Garden and Possum Trail which consists of a series of different local ecosystem types and habitats which are being restored in the school grounds.

A 600 metre long nature walk links the ecosystems - 'Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub' (recently classified as an endangered ecosystem by the NSW Scientific Committee); 'The Grassland', using local native grasses to replace a lawn area; 'The Bush Tucker Garden' which consists of food and medicinal plants that are indigenous to the Eastern Suburbs; and 'The Forest' which is taking advantage of an existing stand of native and exotic trees, and has been inter-planted with new trees.

The school wanted to create a learning and play atmosphere that makes local ecosystems part of the normal aspects of day to day attendance at school. Students have the opportunity to be involved in curriculum related to the habitat trail during class time but passive interaction is seen as just as important.

Groups of students, from K-6, participate in the project one morning each week. They work with a horticulturist or ecologist planting native plants, laying out trails, discussing and creating interpretative signage and learning about local ecosystems.

The project has received considerable support including an Environmental Trust Grant and considerable corporate sponsorship. Currently a website is under development simulating aspects of the trail with questions, answers, facts and figures relevant to the project.