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Coastcare volunteers look after Perth City Beach
In AFL country it can be hard to get volunteers during footy season, but the Cambridge Coastcare Community Group in Western Australia's Swan region is dedicated to their dunes - rain, hail or grand final.
The group has protected 4.5 kilometres of near pristine sand dunes at Perth's City Beach. The beach is consistently voted number one beach in Perth - great for the surfing locals but not for the vulnerable habitat, which can be placed under serious pressure.
Funding
The dune project has been supported with more than $27,000 from the Australian Government.
Activities and achievements
Cambridge Coastcare president Kingsley Dixon said that considering the position of the dunes - the closest to Perth's CBD - they are surprisingly intact.
"But without our intervention, weeds like sea spinach and wild pelargonium would have gradually altered the whole nature of these dunes," Kingsley said. "The dunes provide important corridors for the White-winged Fairy-wren, skinks and the Rainbow Bee Eater."
On any given Sunday you might spot 50 tireless volunteers planting native species such as Coastal Spinifex, wattles and Club Rush to stabilise the dunes. Over the past five years they've planted 50,000 seedlings, many of which have been propagated at the seed bank at Kings Park Botanic Gardens.
"We aim to follow sound ecological principals, ensuring we represent the natural species patterns that occur in coastal regions from the high water mark to the secondary dunes," Kingsley said.
Planting days have become so popular that in addition to the usual locals there have been volunteers from beyond the region. Cambridge Coastcare hopes to encourage locals to "keep it as their own", however, "so that when we've gone there's a continuity of ownership. It's all about sustainability over the generations".
The group now uses innovative aerial photographs for monitoring - dubbed "eye in the sky" by Kingsley - which are used to record dune condition and the quality of restoration.
"Each May we now fly the dunes to take high resolution aerial photographs to assess condition and look at where we've got any damage," he said. "That's where the Australian Government funding is so crucial - we'll never walk away from these dunes."
More information
- Kingsley Dixon, Cambridge Coastcare President: (08) 9480 3614 or kdixon@bgpa.wa.gov.au
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