Recently our Fitz-Stirling Ecologist Angela Sanders and several of our trusty volunteers met with 13-15-year-old students at the 2019 Science Rocks Expo in Albany, to talk all things ecology and environmental careers.
With 600 young people attending over two days it was a fun, interactive and engaging way to share a bit about Bush Heritage’s work in south-west WA and life as an ecologist on the front lines of nature conservation.
From thermal images, camera traps and how to identify a Malleefowl and its mound, to monitoring the endangered Red-tailed Phascogale – students learnt about some of their unique local species and how we can look after them.
Chrissy, one of our volunteers, said “The students were really interested in what we were doing, especially in the thermal imager and using a telescopic probe to investigate an old tree hollow that had spider webs and a Tarantula inside” (do not fear, not a real one).
She also said that the snake skins with their different patterns were a big hit, and that students were interested in how Bush Heritage has restored areas of farmland and fascinated by how much it could change in 6 years.
The expo definitely widened their perspectives and sparked interest in the environment as a possible career.
A big thank you to our volunteers Renae, Chrissy and Meredith that helped answer 100s of questions and dedicated their time, passion and expertise to sharing the importance of our environmental heritage with a future generation of environmental scientists and ecologists.