By Dongyun Kwon
Local volunteers cleaned up Badger Creek revegetation sites on Sunday 3 March as Clean Up Australia Day is the first Sunday of March every year.
Healesville Environment Watch Inc (HEWI) has been involved with Clean Up Australia Day for many years choosing different sites around the Healesville area depending on the need each year.
HEWI secretary Karen Garth said seven volunteers from different local groups participated in the clean-up event.
“We had volunteers representing HEWI, Mt Toolebewong and District Landcare, Healesville Rotary, Badger Creek Community and Healesville Scouts as well as local MP Cindy McLeish,” she said.
“We collected 2 bags of rubbish, one of recycling, an old mattress protector, a rubber ball and a broken garden ornament and pulled out a lot of Calystegia weed which was smothering our revegetation.”
The volunteers started setting up around 9.30am, had a cuppa break for about 20 minutes and did the cleaning until about 12.15pm.
Ms Garth said she was very pleased with the event.
“It’s always a friendly activity where people from different groups mingle and learn about each other’s group,” she said.
“We all felt great because we could find some hidden litters and pull the weeds off from smothering our vegetation so that we could protect our local platypus and other water creatures along waterways in Badger Creek.”
Ms Garth and other volunteers were horrified by the amount of dog faeces on the streets and the grass.
“We’d like to request that people walking their dogs take bags with them to pick up their dogs’ poo,” she said.
“It’s unpleasant for other people to step in, particularly in the playground areas where children run around.
“With the next rain, those faeces will raise the pollution level of our local creek, go into Yarra River and end up in Port Phillip Bay.”
