Our long running volunteer bush regeneration program, Roving Restorers, is a key tenet to the success of our organisation. Several times a month, a group of enthusiastic volunteers gathers in Maleny on Friday mornings and travels to a private property in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland to help with weed management and tree planting. Of course, this program has wonderful advantages for landholders, who often can’t believe how much impact our passionate team can make in a few hours.
The environmental outcomes are also significant, with this team planting 925 trees and removing invasive weeds over 5.3 hectares in the 2023-24 financial year. Last year we assisted 16 landholders, with our volunteers contributing over 500 hours to regenerating native vegetation in the region.
Meeting regularly with like-minded individuals to do something practical and meaningful has great social benefits as well. Roving Restorers events are a chance to catch up with friends, connect with others interested in conservation and enjoy a sumptuous morning tea usually while admiring a glorious view across the Hinterland.
One volunteer said they enjoyed “working together to make a difference, joyful social contact and spectacular morning tea.”
Attending Roving Restorers is also a good way to learn new skills and knowledge. We teach people how to identify weeds and native species and weed treatment techniques. We also invite speakers to talk about relevant topics from time to time as well, which is good to broaden our community’s knowledge.
This program has been so successful that Noosa & District Landcare now run Roving Restorers on our behalf in the Noosa Shire, funded by Noosa Council. We relish this partnership and love seeing the impact this program has in this area as well. Landholders love this program: “We sometimes struggle to cope with our “weed workload”, and we’re so grateful for the progress along the creek bank. Your help/helpers has put us in a better mindset to keep going .. so much appreciated. Keep up the good work!”
If you’d like to come along to an event, check out our Events page for more details.
This is a great opportunity for organisations that pay for employees to contribute volunteer hours to not-for-profit organisations during work hours. Reach out if you’d like to discuss this with us.
