Stories From: Bushcare

Marianne Bate is passionate about the bush, fascinated by people and ‘relentlessly positive’ about how we can better care for the land we live on. Meet Marianne, and discover the difference Bushcare and Landcare make to people and places in this piece by Hamish Dunlop.

Blackheathen Bianca Nogrady is an award-winning freelance science journalist, author and broadcaster. She reflects on conversations from this year’s Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival and shares what she and her family are doing towards planetary health.

There are many steps you can take to protect your garden from the impacts of hot, dry conditions. Glenbrook Native Plant Nursery and Reserve volunteers share their advice on how to help native plants thrive and, in turn, cool down your home environment.  

In Lithgow, the once common call of the Gang Gang Cockatoo has become a rarity. On Threatened Species Day 2023, Lithgow and Oberon Landcare volunteers banded together at Farmers Creek to see what could be done to address their decline.

Lithgow has changed dramatically since 1910 when the needs of a growing industrial City resulted in deforestation and pollution. We’ve taken drone footage to compare Lithgow in 1910 with Lithgow today and we discuss the encouraging progress we’ve made in regenerating our City.

Bushcare's bimonthly Weed Walk and Talk in Hazelbrook is attracting both young and old to learn more about protecting our bushland. Getting rid of weeds supports biodiversity and reduces fire risk by maintaining healthy native bush with less fuel. Volunteers are also joining the group to meet people and do something for the environment.

After focusing on protecting NSW wilderness areas for more than 30 years, conservationist Keith Muir turns his attention to his own Blue Mountains backyard.

Tracie McMahon shares her experience as a Bushcare volunteer with Remote Bushcare programs run by Blue Mountains City Council and by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

They are furry, silent, super cute and have been likened to a gliding koala. However recent bushfires, heatwaves and extreme drought have led to Greater Gliders being listed as Endangered. What does the future hold for Blue Mountains Greater Gliders?

Nurtured by the bushland around his studio and the storytelling of past cultures, Jonathan Drew recovered from depression and became an oral storyteller. He believes these stories provide clues to living a good life in harmony with the natural world.