We are so lucky to live in a region where our township is surrounded by many natural environments! That is why our last few Junior Landcare sessions have seen us looking at our local environments around the Gympie region and what we can do to care for them.
Last week saw us learning all about Kool Koalas with the wonderful Robyn and Marilyn from Koala Action Gympie Region. We learnt about koala habitats, how to identify koala markings and also how to identify koala scats. We then walked 2km through the Victory Trails Recreation Area with our eagle-eyes open in the hope of spotting a koala in the treetops. Unfortunately we were not lucky enough to see one on the day, but we definitely found all the signs to show us that they do in fact live there.
We have also learnt about some invasive species, such as Cat’s Claw Vine, and what we can do to control them. This session called for an outing to the Six Mile Creek Rest Area where we spent the afternoon collecting this vine so that we could learn how to weave baskets from it! The best part about basket weaving is that you can get really creative and there is no right or wrong way of what your basket should look like. Might I also add that we have found this to be a rather relaxing and fun exercise.
We followed on from this session by holding a River to Rail Trail walk along the Mary River, with the amazing Belinda from MRCCC. Belinda taught us all about the native tree species that are important for riverbanks, for both wildlife habitats and also for holding the banks together. We also learnt about how the water in the Mary River is used, as well as where it comes from and where it goes to. We also decided to let the children assist with the releasing of some of our Bio-Control beetles on the Cats Claw at The Sands Carpark. 
