Bushcare volunteers head back to the wild

Published on 05 June 2020

One of Hobart’s most popular volunteer programs will return to the field this weekend to tackle environmental weeds and restore important wildlife habitat.

The City of Hobart’s Bushcare program will hold its first working bees this Sunday 7 June since the start of COVID-19 restrictions.

With more than 500 active volunteers, the Bushcare program has in Hobart operated for 25 years. Volunteers get together in key bushland areas to care for the fragile local ecosystems.

“Our army of Bushcare volunteers can’t wait to get back into their local bushland reserve to pull out weeds, restore degraded habitat and catch up with old friends at the end of every working bee,” Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said.

“We know it’s been hard for them to sit back knowing there is work to be done and they are keen get back out into the field.”

The City of Hobart supports 13 Bushcare volunteer groups that work in bushland reserves such as Wellington Park, Knocklofty Reserve and the Queens Domain.

Sandra Poth is a volunteer convenor with the Bushcare group Waterworks Valley Landcare.

“We are so looking forward to meeting up again and planning our next Bushcare project,” she said. “It’s delightful to see native plants we put in six or seven years ago start to provide habitat and shelter for little birds.

“We are all so proud to be part of one of Hobart’s oldest Bushcare groups and can’t wait to get back to it.”

Bushcare volunteers will follow physical distancing and hygiene rules, and initial working bees will be limited to 20 people.

Last year Bushcare volunteers contributed more than 4000 hours of landscape restoration work in Hobart’s bushland reserves.