Save the Date:
Symposium on 4th July 2019

So many good ideas in this flyer…..

Advertising local native plants, making native plants affordable, encouraging their use in gardens and the fact that all these councils got together to coordinate this approach is wonderful. Several councils around Perth have initiatives like this – ask your local council. Wouldn’t it be great if there were also the resources to help people choose and design habitat gardens so they could really make something special? Like Habitat Stepping Stones but local. EnviroHouse has had workshops like this in the past and we’re sure others have too. There are lots of resources around creating native and habitat gardens and road verges out there that NatureLink Perth are now collating. If you know a council or NRM group active in this space, let us know any initiatives so we don’t miss anything. Send us an email at NatureLinkPerth@murdoch.edu.au.

 

Events

Upcoming events are provided here. Do you have an event coming up? Let us know.

Okay so here’s an interesting thing – I posted the Healthy Soils event below and couldn’t find the booking address. Spoke to Rachael from EnviroHouse and she said they had to cancel/postpone as they had only 3 people coming. Is this is symptomatic of how our society’s focus is on the big and the beautiful (for example: flowers)? Soil is a critical element of our biodiversity. Without mycorrhizae,we wouldn’t have many of the wonderful species we do. Biodiversity of our soil is fascinating, tiny but way cool. A shame that inspired people now miss out because people aren’t switched on to this fascinating microworld. Do yourself a favour and ask EnviroHouse to reschedule soon so you can enjoy….. 

Get the dirt on healthy soils under the microscope

Hosted by EnviroHouse
DATE: Now NOT Saturday 27 April | but sometime in June 
VENUE: Environment House, 125 King William St, Bayswater
COST: ?
Interested?  phone 9271 4488 and ask to put your name down

We don’t think enough about how important soil is….Have you heard about soil microbes and are curious about what they are and what they do? In this one-hour session gardeners will be taken on a journey through life in a soil food web. They’ll learn how to identify organisms and get to see them with the aid of powerful microscopes. Along the way, we will discover how micro-organisms help us grow healthy food and care for our environment. A fun and interactive presentation for all ages.

Orchid pollination

Hosted by the Wildflower Society of WA Murdoch Branch 
DATE: Thursday 2 May | 7:30pm-9:30pm
VENUE: The Wetland Centre, Cockburn, 184 Hope Rd Bibra Lake
COST: $3 (including supper) – bargain!
To book click Here

Did you know that there are ~400 species of orchids in Western Australia which have a range of pollination strategies, including sexually deceptive flowering orchids?
Mark Brundrett will be sharing with us his work on studying the pollination of orchids in the banksia and eucalypt woodlands of Perth with data collected for 24,000 flowers across 20 orchid species! Join us to learn more about orchid pollination with Dr Mark Brundrett.

Volunteer at Piney Lakes

Brought to you by Melville City Council
DATE: Friday mornings  | 8:00am- 10:00am
VENUE: Piney Lakes Reserve Winthrop 
COST:  Free
For information click Here

Piney Lakes needs help with volunteers. A great opportunity to learn new skills and help the environment including:
 Sustainable garden design and care

Priority areas: Bat and Black Cockatoo Habitat Restoration Sites
Regular upkeep of seedlings (mulching, watering, planting, guarding)
Weed control (learn what weeds are found in our area and help to eradicate them)

In the News:

The importance of nature to child development…..
Nature Play runs experimental pilot program to encourage ‘free-range kids’ in communities
Kym Agius ABC News  24 April 2019

Playing outside with the neighbours used to be a natural part of childhood, but some kids are discovering that finding friends isn’t as easy as it used to be.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your interest in NatureLink Perth.  Actions you can take are highlighted by a resources with a 

A bit light on this week with so many wonderful holidays but NatureLink Perth doesn’t stop…
On Tuesday, Jane Chambers presented at the the Friends of Lake Claremont 
meeting. Alas I was bit late but we managed to fit in a dynamic session and I’d like thank everyone for their generous and enthusiastic contributions. Every meeting we have sheds light on a different aspect of what we are trying to achieve. As well as other ideas, great insight was shared on the importance of champions and engaging potential detractors – thanks!

Today I met with Rachael Roberts from EnviroHouse. While we discussed a multitude of topics, a gem I would like to share was something Rachael said about bushland on Dept of Education land around schools. Many of our remnant bushland areas are adjacent to schools and have no environmental protection but nature play and educating though nature is becoming increasingly seen as critical to child development. So here we have the perfect solution of outdoor classrooms right on the school grounds to enable nature based learning freely available. A win for child development and the potential to restore and treasure bushland in the midst of suburbia. Brilliant! 


So this week spare a thought for soil and please email us any information you have about native plants, gardens and verges, people you think we should contact or events/activities that are happening – so we can share with everyone through NatureLink Perth and make all of us more effective agents of change. 

Cheers,

Jane and the NatureLink Perth team