The Wildcare Friends of Pitt Water-Orielton Lagoon team got together on Sunday 15th March for a Clean-up Australia morning.
12 very enthusiastic members turned up at the carpark near the dog exercise area in Shark Point Road to tackle dumped rubbish along the waterway and the roadway. The group split up and spent two hours collecting rubbish which was then compiled at a collection point for the council pick up later. As you can see, a variety of rubbish was collected including a number of tyres, plenty of glass bottles and all sorts of other bits and pieces.
This was the first official event for our group whose prime focus is on assisting the natural regeneration of the Pitt Water estuary and Orielton Lagoon Ramsar site. Pitt Water is one of 10 Ramsar sites (wetlands of international importance) in Tasmania and the only Tasmanian Ramsar site located in an urban area.
Some dedicated Wildcare members even came to us from Sandy Bay and Mount Nelson! Thank you to Sharon, John, Heidi and Stephen! Thank you also to our local crew, Bob, Mona, David, Viv and Orlando for joining in and of course Georgie for organising the event. Bags, gloves, sharps and first aid equipment were provided by Clean-up Australia. The event was promoted through Wildcare Tasmania and Clean-up Australia.
We also had some neighbours, both young and older, come to lend a hand or express an interest in joining future events. So all in all a great result!
The intent of the group is to get together on a monthly basis to continue the clean-up further up the shore and the road as well as maintain these areas into the future.
The Wildcare Friends of Pitt Water-Orielton Lagoon team is keen to improve our neighbourhood by initially:
- Organising clean-up days for rubbish in various surrounding areas
- Weed management along the Penna Beach to tackle ‘declared weeds’ such as Boneseed, African Boxthorn and Fennel as well as Briar Rose (not declared weeds but certainly invasive ones) and encourage natural regeneration and,
- Organise some public educational walks/ talks with visiting experts.
Further projects are being considered into the future as well.
To join Wildcare or to see what events might be happening in an area of interest to you please go to:
https://wildcaretas.org.au
To participate in a Clean-up Australia event or to organise one please go to
www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au
