Lessons from a bush classroom

In National Volunteer Week we hear from three unstoppable volunteers who shared their motivations and experience. From what initially drew them to conservation volunteering to what inspires their ongoing commitment. 

An extensive revegetation project has been underway for the three years at Eurardy Reserve (mid-west WA). We want to know if bats are present in this new planting. Our volunteer assignment was primarily to set everything up to start recording bat activity over the coming months (and maybe years).

Reflecting on what makes for a valuable, useful, and enjoyable volunteering experience is especially relevant during National Volunteer Week. We recently took a deep dive into volunteering with Rex George and Gail Holt, two of our active and committed WA-based volunteers to discuss what Bushie volunteering means to them.

Despite numerous lockdowns and the fact we only advertised opportunities within each state (due to border restrictions), 2021 still saw 508 people volunteering 38,215 hours over 1,289 placements. 

I was hesitant about going out to the desert to volunteer for Bush Heritage in January this year. It’s such a long way and it’s dusty and hot. But a trip to Craven’s Peak was available and I thought I should – don’t I always say, “if you haven’t tried something, don’t knock it?”

Hear from two of our WA volunteers about their recent caretaking experience on our Hamelin Station Reserve.

Being presented with a wire winder wouldn’t excite everyone but knowing that we were in for a week or two of fence removal at Naree Reserve, we thought it was pretty good!

Volunteers Jim and Erica (Ricki) Nash recently embarked on their first volunteer experience at our Tarcutta Hills Reserve near Wagga Wagga, NSW to remove old fencing, supervised by long-standing Volunteer Team Leader Justin Kell.

Volunteers Tom O'Hara and Georgie McManus recently complete a rabbit survey on our Tarcutta Hills Reserve, including the recently purchased neighbouring block.

With words and brush, volunteer caretaker, Angela Woltmann paints a glorious picture of Christmas spent on Ethabuka Reserve with her husband Shane.

After settling in for a three week stay as caretakers, we couldn’t wait to get out in the field at Boolcoomatta Reserve to see what had changed since the welcome spring rains had arrived. 

When the Volunteer Advisory Committee met in February to plan the year ahead, we never envisaged the opportunities 2020 would create for connecting the volunteer community.  This year volunteers had the unexpected (but rewarding) experience of webinars presented by volunteer speakers.

Annie and Ian Mayo have been spending the last couple of months removing fences around reserves in WA. On the weekend they reached a huge milestone by reaching 100km of fenceline removed!

In this turbulent 2020 year Jord’s annual Bush Heritage trip was hosted on the Tarcutta Hills Reserve to “do some good”, have some rest and relaxation and strengthen team bonding. This COVID year we could not be joined by our workmates from overseas and interstate but nevertheless people from our Sydney and Newcastle offices took part in an activity which has become an annual institution at Jord.

It has been a dream come true to spend the last two weeks helping with the spring fauna survey at Edgbaston reserve. I’m resting in the shade of the old, tin shearing shed, like the roos under the trees nearby, with some gusty afternoon breezes keeping it balmy, the sun beating down outside and a 360 degree view of vast open land. How lucky am I?!

Regular Queensland-based volunteers Paul and Jo Flint report back on their recent caretaking work at Goonderoo Reserve in Central Queensland.

With Covid restrictions in South Australia relaxed a little, my husband Tony and I were lucky enough to spend three weeks in July volunteering at Boolcoomatta Reserve. We knew that there had been very little rain there over the past year and the magnificent River Red Gums were looking thirsty, as you would expect. What we didn’t expect was to see the profusion of wildflowers blooming in the gilgais out on the plains and in crevices on the rocky slopes. These bright little flowers bobbing in the breeze really brightened our time on the reserve. 

G’day! My name is Andrea, at the moment I am one of the few lucky volunteers who still gets to go to work on a Bush Heritage reserve, so I thought I’d take you along with me for a week.

It had been 16 years since our last visit to Chereninup Creek Reserve, for a National Tree Day planting. That cold and blustery day was the start of a revegetation program in the mega-diverse region between the Stirling Range and Fitzgerald River National Parks in southern WA.

This year I was lucky enough to be accepted as a volunteer for the annual fauna trapping on Bon Bon Station Reserve. I'm a member of the 'Newcastle cluster' of Bush Heritage supporters – a small but keen group prepared to travel great distances to volunteer. So it was with great excitement that we set off on the long trek to Bon Bon in November.

There mightn't be much pitter patter here at Boolcoomatta but there are certainly many positives happening.

There’s some conjecture around which tiny marsupial is the cutest, Honey or Pygmy Possums. After seeing both popping up in the pitfall traps and nesting boxes blanketing the reserve, I can understand the debate. Over the course of five days myself and four other volunteers interacted with a broad cross-section of animals that had made homes for themselves in the newly revegetated areas.

Good birding; important work; challenging and harshly beautiful environment; a very companionable group – the core elements of a really rewarding expedition.

Volunteer Jan describes her time at Eurardy Reserve this spring. From tackling the double gees and cape weed, to hearing a juvenile Pied Butcher Bird learning its song, read on for a week in the life of a Bush Heritage Australia volunteer.

'Back o’ Bourke' as a metaphor for a place very far from anywhere was coined for a reason. It took an hour long flight and a four-hour drive just to get to Bourke, and then another two hours on mostly dirt roads to get to the 'back' of it – Naree Reserve. But although Naree is literally 'back o’ Bourke', it rewards those with the determination to get there with a rich experience.

Working from home without physical exertion and getting my hands dirty is what I hoped to be able to do as a Bush Heritage volunteer - even though I love being out in the bush.

I've just returned after spending 9 days being involved with our volunteers in the Adventurous Paddling Program, which is helping to improve fish habitat in the Murrumbidgee River near Scottsdale Reserve, as part of the Upper Murrumbidgee Demonstration Reach.

Autumn marks the unofficial start to the volunteer season for our remote area reserves. Michael Uhrig, volunteer team leader from Currumbin Reserve, issues a timely reminder about the importance of being well prepared for remote area travel, following his experiences during summer caretaking at Carnarvon.

Our monthly working bees in Tasmania are going from strength to strength, with new volunteers signing up every month. Last Saturday a team of nine (including three new volunteers) joined us to tackle blackberries and foxgloves in our Liffey River reserves.

Coming from mainly a plant ecology background, it was great to have the opportunity to help out on the recent trapping survey at Edgbaston reserve. We started off the week with digging pitfalls traps. This was a relatively new experience for me and I can confirm its pretty hard work in the high 30˚C heat!

Mick and Kerry Moylan are long-time volunteers with Bush Heritage and their contribution can't be overstated! Here they share their experience of volunteering in Cape York for the recent Alwal Recovery Team meeting with our Olkola Aboriginal partners.

A small team of dedicated volunteers have been planting vines to create habitat for Richmond Birdwing Butterflies on Currumbin Reserve in south-east Queensland.

Thanks to the Western Australian Wildflower Society's help with collecting, processing, identifying and mounting thousands of plant specimens, we now have a thorough understanding of the unique plant species assemblages of Charles Darwin Reserve and Eurardy Reserve in the Mid-west of Western Australia.

Back in September, Victorian-based volunteer Nathan Manders answered the call for reserve support to one of our most remote properties - Cravens Peak on the edge of the Simpson Desert. Here Nathan shares his reflections and some of his stunning images from that trip - one that he'll never forget.

In September we had an amazing group of 11 volunteers make the long trek to our Boolcoomatta Station Reserve to help with vital weed management. The group were focused on our long-term management strategy to control the African Boxthorn and Pepper Trees in the beautiful Oonatra Creek system.

Bush Heritage volunteering opened my eyes to a landscape that I could never have imagined. As we turned through the gate, I felt like we'd landed on the moon. We'd been driving for six hours, having refuelled at Bourke before the final 170km of dirt road to Naree Station.

In the last week of August 10 volunteers conducted the annual platypus survey on the Upper Murrumbidgee River at Scottsdale Reserve, in association with Cooma Waterwatch coordinator, Antia Brademan and Reserve Manger, Phil Palmer.

Our volunteer caretakers at Goonderoo play an important role in the recovery of Bridled Nailtail Wallabies (Flashjacks) at neighbouring Avocet Nature Refuge in Central Qld. As part of their weekly caretaker duties, the volunteers conduct fence inspections and check water at the Flashjack nursery. They also support feral animal control, monitoring and weeding projects in the Brigalow habitat that the Flashjacks call home.

Mick and Kerry Moylan are highly valued volunteers from Victoria. Over the past couple of months they've been travelling up the west coast and done amazing work for us along the way, including at Eurardy Reserve and Hamelin Station Reserve. This is an exert from their travel diary. It's a great read and provides an insight into the amazing contribution that volunteers make to Bush Heritage.

When the chance presented itself to caretake Bon Bon Station Reserve, Michael ​Uhrig jumped at the opportunity. He got on the phone and asked his mother June to join him - remote caretaking roles have a minimum requirement of two people, in-line with basic remote area safety protocols - you always need backup!

I've just found, or rather 'made' another good reason to visit the Hamelin Station Reserve, located on the edge of the Shark Bay World Heritage Area - the new Homestead Walk Trail...

Keith Gooley and Peter Caulder are Bush Heritage volunteers with expertise in electronics and a passion for conservation. Keith and Peter are using these skills to help us address one of the biggest threats to Australian wildlife on Boolcoomatta Reserve - feral cats.

After 11 years of helping out on Bush Heritage reserves, from cleaning guest rooms at Eurardy to putting up tents at Yourka, I've finally talked my Mum in to officially registering as a volunteer- just in time for her most exciting duty yet- data entry!

Brian Martin and Brian Crute are valued Bush Heritage volunteers who help with the seasonal sand pad monitoring on Charles Darwin Reserve in Western Australia. Here Brian Martin provides an account of this autumn's sand pad monitoring.

Kathleen Davies and Brian Redman answered the call to volunteer at Naree Station, helping UNSW PhD student Justin McCann in his studies.

Fourteen groups of volunteers kept us busy this year. Reconstructing and strengthening boundary fences was the top priority. In one particularly mammoth undertaking, volunteers managed to pull down and wind up 20km of fence in two days! On another day, two teams went out and put in an extra 2,000 posts at weak points along a fence to strengthen it.

An environmental officer by trade and Bush Heritage volunteer in her spare time, Heike Erberhard explains why the work of Bush Heritage is vital to Australia.

Repairing landscapes by clearing away old infrastructure; chipping weeds; monitoring and working on fencing projects are just some of the jobs our Green Army teams have assisted with over the past 18 months at Bon Bon Station Reserve.

For most of Victoria, rainfall in 2015 was below or very much below average and our Nardoo Hills Reserve and the Wedderburn region were no exception. In 2016 the rains have been a little more forthcoming giving us an opportunity to get saplings into the softer grounds.

Volunteers Tony and Vicky Darlington had never heard of 'sand pad monitoring' when they signed up for a stint as caretakers at Goonderoo Reserve in Central Queensland. But with some simple instructions and a little bit of practise they soon got their 'eye in' as dirt-track detectives.

Mick and Kerry Moylan have been volunteering for Bush Heritage Australia for the past 5 years. Based in Victoria they regularly volunteer on different reserves around the country. In the past couple of years they've worked on reserves in New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia. The following article was written by Mick after he and Kerry spent a week at Charles Darwin Reserve in Western Australia helping Reserve Manager, Fiona Stewart.

Peter and Margie Calder are much valued volunteers. Over the past few years they've volunteered over 20 weeks of their time to their 'local reserve' – Bon Bon Station (it's only a day's drive away). They wrote this blog entry after completing their 8th placement at Bon Bon.

Living on a remote reserve comes with many challenges and, believe it or not, leaving the reserve can often become one of the major ones – especially during wildfire season or leaving behind a menagerie of orphaned wildlife.

Bush Heritage has had volunteers leading groups of volunteers in the past, but our new program formalises the Volunteer Leader role and offers a more structured approach for people interested in using their leadership skills in this way.

On Saturday 22nd August a team of seven willing weeders headed down to Currumbin Reserve, nestled beside Nicoll Scrub National Park in the Gold Coast hinterland for the first ever working bee at this small but significant patch of remnant forest.

While much has been written about the benefits of volunteering to the community and environment, new research is shedding light on the physical and mental health benefits to volunteers, particularly those who volunteer in the outdoors.

Twenty years ago, when Bush Heritage supporters helped to purchase and protect beautiful Brogo Reserve, little did we know that two very firm friends of the organisation – and future volunteers – lived just next door.