Metford Public School and Hunter River Community School are two of 29 Hunter Valley schools receiving Junior Landcare grants from the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) this week.

The program invited Hunter Valley and regional NSW schools neighbouring the freight rail network to pitch their environmental ideas for funding. ARTC recently announced a total of nearly $30,000 worth of funding would be provided to deliver the exciting school projects and promote safe rail behaviours.

Students at Metford Public School hope to see an increase in the range of local native fauna by planting a native food plant garden. Their garden will provide opportunities for students, teachers and the community to learn about native edible plants and Indigenous foods.

Thousands of Victorian students at over 200 schools and youth organisations from Altona to Yackandandah, will be getting ‘hands on’ with inventive projects that help to educate children about sustainability within their local environment. These grants are made possible through Junior Landcare and Momentum Energy’s Powerful Youth Projects.

Landcare Australia and Momentum launched the Powerful Youth Projects in 2017 to seek new ideas for how children can actively learn and develop skills for protecting local environments. Through this program, Victorian schools, childcare centres, and youth groups can apply for grants of up to $1000.

Following a successful first year, which saw more than 24,000 students engaging in over 200 projects, the Powerful Youth Projects program rolled out across the state again in 2018. To encourage the enthusiasm shown by so many schools, Momentum Energy generously increased their funding to ensure that 219 schools across Victoria were awarded grants.

16 April 2018: Thousands of eucalyptus seedlings are looking for homes to be planted. The Farm Forestry Landcare Network needs unproductive land in the Coorong, Murraylands, and Riverland regions to turn into demonstration sites for sustainable timber forests.

The call out is part of Landcare Australia’s ‘Agroforestry Development Species Demonstration Sites’ project launched in Monarto South last year. Funded by Australian Home Heating Association (AHHA), the project aims to develop and share knowledge of silviculture within the farming industry and increase sustainability.

Farm Forestry Landcare Network chairman Ian Filmer said the project is a great opportunity for farmers to turn unproductive land into a commercial opportunity.

Five schools in the Collie region have undertaken Junior Landcare projects involving hundreds of students as part of the South32 Junior Landcare Enhancing Habitat Grants.

Launched last year, the grants program provided grants of up to $5,000 to assist 12 schools in Western Australia and New South Wales to enhance and restore habitats within their school grounds and local communities.

In the Collie region, Amaroo Primary, Allanson Primary, St Brigid’s, Fairview Primary, and Wilson Park Primary have all kicked off projects including bush regeneration, bush tucker gardens, and a community nursery.

As part of his 88^th birthday celebrations, former Prime Minister, the Hon. Bob Hawke, has called on the Australian public to put their hands in their pockets to help the Landcare groups working to save the future of our endangered Aussie species.

In an Australian first, Landcare Australia partner, Hawke’s Brewing Co., collaborated with Madame Tussauds Sydney to remould the wax hand of former Prime Minister, Bob Hawke so that he can hold a can of his own beer, Hawke’s Lager. The birthday gift was revealed at an event to celebrate Mr Hawke’s 88^th birthday in Sydney, where wax Bob and real Bob Hawke shared a cheers!

While Mr Hawke was ‘given a hand’ for his birthday, he encouraged all Australians to give him a hand by donating to Landcare Australia’s “Protect Our Aussie Species Appeal”. The appeal funds projects that help protect the future of Aussie species, like vulnerable koalas in the Port Macquarie region of New South Wales.

“I hope this gesture will help Landcare raise awareness and support to safeguard the future of Australia’s vulnerable and endangered species”, said Mr Hawke.