Floating Landcare

Providing unique volunteer opportunities to clean-up local waterways

Since 2012, Floating Landcare has been providing opportunities for environmental volunteers to participate in bush regeneration activities and marine debris cleanups at locations only accessible by a boat on the NSW Hawkesbury Estuary and Central Coast Waterways.

Floating Landcare objectives include:

• Increasing local residential and business community awareness of the need and opportunity to help protect, restore and rehabilitate the local bushland through volunteering
• Using volunteer labour to decrease weeds which minimises the decline of important ecosystems and habitats at 20 Floating Landcare activity sites
• Reducing the impact of marine debris on mangrove and saltmarsh areas in the Hawkesbury estuary and Central Coast waterways by collecting floating litter.

Corporate engagement helps program expand and flourish

Since the program began, Landcare Australia has been the major project partner assisting with corporate engagement. In 2015, this assistance supported the addition of four Central Coast sites for volunteers to visit, bringing the total to 20 locations.

In 2017 Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) provided additional funding through its Blue Water Program, which supported more than 60 volunteers participating at various events.

One event was a two-day bushcare camp that helped everyone to increase their knowledge and capacity while also carrying out physical activities of a marine debris clean-up and bush regeneration.

Rebecca Mooy from Floating Landcare said, “Through reducing the weed density at the sites we are seeing an increase in the native species richness at each site over time, as natives take up the space the weeds were in.”
Volunteers along with representatives from partner organisations, also collected 100kg of litter from Gentleman’s Halt, Cunio Point, and Mackerel Beach.

This unique program is coordinated by Greater Sydney Local Land Services in the Hawkesbury Estuary with assistance from its project partners (NPWS OEH, Hornsby, Central Coast Council, Northern Beaches Council).

Volunteers from across Sydney enjoy participating. Click to view the video of volunteers and staff talking about the value and satisfaction they get from taking part in the Floating Landcare program.