Assignment 1 - early preliminary research

The Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Group actively participates in a variety of local environmental issues, and shows interest in helping the local environment in any way it can. The group exists nationally, but this feature writing piece will focus only on the local Warrnambool branch. According to the Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare group website, the three main areas of work that the group engages in include The Middle Island Maremma Project, the Weed Warrior Program and the Harris on Merri Revegetation Project.
The Middle Island Maremma Project involves replenishing the penguin population on Warrnambool's Middle Island by using trained Maremma dogs to protect the penguins from foxes. The breed has been used to protect sheep in Italy for 2000 years and have been effective in Warrnambool too. According to the Peter Collins of the Warrnambool Standard, there is currently a local movie being made about the success of the Maremma dogs defending the local penguin population and the eccentric chook farmer Allan 'Swampy' Marsh who came up with the idea.

The Weed Warrior Program involves stopping the spread of Bridal Creeper Asparagus in the south west Warrnambool wetlands, which is an introduced vine from South Africa, brought to Australia in the 1850s as an ornamental garden plant. Part of stopping the Bridal Creeper involves creating community awareness about the effects that weeds have on Australia's flora and fauna. The Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare group creates this community awareness by educating local primary school students into learning how to control weeds through breeding biological control agents in their classrooms and monitoring the decrease of the weeds. The biological control agents that are used on the bridal creeper are an insect called the leafhopper Zygina and the rust fungus Puccinia myrsphyllia. These are both safe methods of biological control which cause  no harm to local flora, fauna or humans as has been shown in thorough scientific testing by the Keith Turnbull institute.

Bridal Creeper                                                          leafhopper Zygina

The Harris on Merri Revegetation Project involves planting trees by the banks of the Merri river estuary. When the project originally began in 2006 it was funded through a special grant through the non-profit environmental organization Landcare Australia Limited. The Warrnambool City Council helped them decide where to plant, offered to help clean up the site, formed and oversaw a weed control policy and got the Work for the Dole group to implement that policy.
The group's volunteer coordinator Ann Park organized South West TAFE's certificate three horticulture students to develop an Ecological Vegetation Classes planning list, along with a site planting plan. These TAFE students then became team leaders of small groups of Merrivale Primary school students in instructing and supervising the correct planting methods. Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Group members had previously talked to those Merrivale students about how to care for the environment in the lead up to this activity.
This shows that there are many ways in which the group tries to make their local population more environmentally conscious.
The Harris on Merri Revegetation Project also has partnerships with Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority (CMA), Coastal Action Coastcare, Warrnambool South Community Group, Rotary and the community at large.
Although these are the group's three main issues, these are not the only environmental issues that the Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Group is involved with. They show interest in any issue that relates to local environmental issues. This can include litter endangering wildlife, feral species taking over or global warming. This is demonstrated by the fact that their Facebook page cites that the public should look out for a local bottle-nose dolphin who is entangled in packing tape, and leaves a phone number to contact if that dolphin is seen. The Warrnambool Standard journalist Claire  Campbell includes an article where Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Group Leader Bruce Campbell is talking about Warrnambool's feral rabbit population Claire Quirk details that Bruce speaks against locals depositing their dog's poop in fishing line and tackle bins rather than rubbish bins. The group's monthly newsletter mentions Earth Hour, and 'Caring for Seabirds,' which involves protecting a variety of birds and not just the penguins on middle island. The newsletter also shows that they organize mostly social events such as drinks at a local pub and speed dating while planting trees, which is referred to as 'speed planting.'
For this piece I intend to ask six of the organization's members exactly what it is that they do for the organization, what motivates them to do the volunteer work that they do, what led to their decision to join the organization and what issues are important to them and why. I will also ask them what their involvement was or will be in the specific events mentioned on their website and in their newsletter, and in The Standard. This means asking about what they and their group have contributed towards the Middle Island Penguin Monitoring, the Weed Control Program, The Harris on Merri Revegetation Project, littering, global warming awareness, speed planting, caring for seabirds and feral animals.
From those starting points I ask follow up questions to try to get a sense of who these people are and tell their personal stories. This will help to show in detail, and through an entertaining and interesting way, why environmental activism is important and rewarding. My target audience would be local Warrnambool residents who also care about the environment and would like to do something to help.
The people that I intend to interview include the group leader Bruce Campbell, the group's secretary Brendan McDonald, the Deputy leader Vince Haberfield, a member of the Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Group Committee Emma Dart, Nick Glover an on the ground volunteer and Matthew Ebden, who is a psychologist currently testing the effects of environmental activism on depression, as well as being another of the group's volunteers. It is possible that I won't be able to get in touch with Matthew Ebden, as he is based in Melbourne and only in Warrnambool sometimes. Bruce, Brendan, Vince and Emma were picked because they are important people in the organization, which is ideal for getting a sense of what the organization is about. Nick was picked because I wanted a variety of perspectives instead of people who are directly running the Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Group every time, and Matthew will have a unique story to tell in relation to the group as well, given that he can relate his work at Landcare to his work in psychology.

 

Contacts

References for secondary sources

Campbell, C 2013, Feral pests on the rise around Warrnambool, The Standard, 2 July, <http://www.standard.net.au/story/1609396/feral-pests-on-the-rise-around-warrnambool/>

Collins, P 2013, Maremmas to hit the big screen, The Standard, December 6 <http://www.standard.net.au/story/1955001/maremmas-to-hit-the-big-screen/?cs=72>

Quirk, C 2013, Pet owners deposit poo in wrong bins, The Standard, 25 May, <http://www.standard.net.au/story/1526095/pet-owners-deposit-poo-in-wrong-bins/>

Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Group, 'Middle Island Maremma Project', retrieved March 30 2014, <http://www.wclg.com.au/middle-island/>

Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Group, 'The Harris on Merri Revegetation Project', retrieved March 30 2014, <http://www.wclg.com.au/harris-on-merri/>

Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Group, 'Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Group', retrieved April 3, <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Warrnambool-Coastcare-Landcare-Group/163411990378732>

Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Group, 'Weed Warrior Program', retrieved March 30 2014 http://www.wclg.com.au/weed-warriors/

 

Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Group, 'What's Coming Up March - April 2014', retrieved April 2 2014, pdf file.