by Gabriella Vukman
The First Friends of Dandenong Creek group (FFODC) hosted a rubbish cleanup on Sunday in efforts to protect the creek’s delicate ecosystem.
The Dandenong Creek runs all the way from Dandenong South, through Kilsyth South and The Basin to Olinda and is the home to various species including the endangered Leadbeater’s possum.
President of the FFODC Anthony Bigelow said, “we had 35 volunteers on Sunday which is actually a pretty good number seeing as rubbish collection is not the top thing people want to do.”
“I extend a big thank you to our partners The Bliss and Wisdom Society, which is a local Buddhist group who came along and helped out.”
“Thankfully, we didn’t actually collect that much rubbish which is a good indication that there wasn’t or hasn’t been as much rubbish being washed down through the creek,” Mr Bigelow said.
The group runs on volunteers and aims to protect the creek and surrounding environment.
Mr Bigelow said, “on a normal year-to-year basis we generally plant around 10-15,000 plants, all local and Indigenous to the area. “
“We run planting events, a national tree day event, a world environment day event all with the intention of returning re-vegetation to the area,” Mr Bigelow said.
The group also installs nesting boxes for a range of species.
“We’ve rolled out over 200 boxes for sugar gliders and we have done the same thing for powerful owls which is another endangered species in the area,” Mr Bigelow said.
“We try to support the local flora and fauna and ask as many people as we can to come along and be a part of that.”
Anyone can volunteer and there are a wide and inclusive range of ways in which people can be a part of the group.
Mr Bigelow said, “there’s the traditional stuff you can do like help out on the planting days or structured survey days or people can help by putting out nest boxes.”
“There is always stuff you can do behind the scenes to support the organisation.”
“Volunteers can either check out our Facebook page or if they’d like to be across things in a more structured way, reach out to us through our website and there is a contact page there and a newsletter,” Mr Bigelow said.
The group started 25 years ago as a mechanism for advocating for the local environment when Melbourne water felled trees in the area, triggering much disgruntlement from the surrounding communities.
FFODC website: ffdc.org.au
