Conservation and Community Outreach

I love animals, plants and remote 'wild' places with a deep intensity, which I suppose makes sense for someone working in conservation. But actually one of the things I love most about conservation work is the need to communicate with a whole range of people in order to achieve results. Some of this involves consulting with people who know a lot more about say mosses and lichens than I do (always an interesting and humbling experience).  But it also means that at A Rocha we organise a lot of community outreach events.

Some of the mushrooms and mosses I need help to identify.

A happy slug on the moss! He's quite irrelevant but also lovely.

 A few weeks ago we hosted the annual ‘Run for the River’. This was a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of protecting the watershed (the area in which all water that falls converges and ultimately forms the Little Campbell River) to the local community, as well as a chance for A Rocha to raise much needed funds for its conservation work and make contact with more members of the community. The atmosphere was great despite the torrential rain. Perhaps feeling quite so drenched got people feeling more at one with the river!?

Spreading the word...

A gloomy morning...

Practicing our running strategy!

The triumphant finishers!

 Last Saturday we hosted a harvest celebration event on site. It was a brilliant way of satisfying the curiosity of a lot of people who regularly drive past the centre and wonder what on earth we get up to in our weird little kind of hippy tree-hugger community. We also got the chance to share our love for wildlife and reconnect people with nature encouraging them to think more about the impact that their lives have upon the world around them and the practical steps they can take to reduce their impact. As a bonus the weather was beautiful and much hay-riding, apple-cidering fun was had by all.

Chopping apples for the cider...

Drop-dead gorgeous car parking team!

The harvested winter squash and pumpkins... that's a lot of soup!

Interns and guests sampling the soup... smiles all round!

Hay rides!

I found a wonderful seat!

On a more individual basis we spend a lot of time building up positive relationships with landowners whose land contains sections of the Little Campbell River and it's tributaries. It can be frustrating when they simply don't want to know. It can also be wonderfully rewarding, especially when land-owners simply hadn't realised how their actions could damage the health of the watershed. Many landowners are more than happy to let us help them remove invasive species, erect fences to keep their livestock out of the river, and plant native plants to restore the river ecosystem once they come to understand the reasons for these actions. I spent last Friday removing invasive blackberries, Himalayan balsam and thistles, planting native trees, and building a fence at a nearby stables. Once the landowner had overcome his suspicion he enjoyed bossing us around and learning more about A Rocha and why we were so concerned about the small creek at the edge of his land, and I even got a ride on his tractor (not a euphemism!!). We'll be returning to finish off our work within the next few weeks. I hope this newly established positive and cooperative relationship will endure for a long time.

Put simply, I love animals and I love sharing this enthusiasm with people... well isn't this just the perfect job!?

Doing battle with thistles!

Planting some native trees!

'Hey guys, aren't we missing those horizontal slats fences usually have?'