Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
Convenor of the ParkCare Friends of Mount Painter group, Sarah Hnatiuk.
Did you know the ACT Government operates and manages more than 90 parks and nature reserves for our community to enjoy? Volunteers – like the Friends of Mount Painter – play a huge role in making this possible.
The Friends of Mount Painter is a registered ParkCare Patch group that is made up of a small number of residents who support ACT Parks in the management of the 93-hectare reserve.
Convenor Sarah Hnatiuk, along with her group of volunteers, is helping protect and enhance the area for generations to come.
“The Parks and Conservation Service are the land managers and deliver the ACT wide programs. We are here to support their activities and work on a different scale,” Sarah said.
“Where we are useful is that we know the reserve intimately, in a way that the rangers wouldn’t as they have such a wide area to manage.
“We might come across a new invasive weed and notify the parks service so they can jump on it quickly.”
ParkCare volunteer activities include things such as:
- revegetation and tree planting
- weed and erosion control
- seed collection
- vegetation mapping
- water quality monitoring
- track maintenance
- biodiversity surveys.
“We do quite a lot of tree planting because this is an area which was extensively cleared, other reserves that have larger amounts of native vegetation do not have the same challenge.”
“We also host classes from the Macquarie Primary, and we go with them on educational walks of the reserve,” Sarah said.
Canberrans can search for their closest ParkCare volunteer group and get involved through the online ParkCare Hub.
More information about the ParkCare initiative can be found on the ACT Parks website: parks.act.gov.au
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