The Green Army is a hands-on environmental action program that supports local environment and heritage conservation projects across Australia.

It’s an Australian government initiative for young people aged between 17 and 24 years who are interested in gaining skills in environmental management and restoration.

Over the past five months, the two teams have worked on some important environmental sites, one including the Cattai Wetlands and Big Swamp area and the second being the lowland rainforest remnants at Andrews Reserve in Taree West, Manning Waters and the Wingham Brush Foreshore.

Both Green Army teams got some great hands-on experience and undertook a range of activities including bush regeneration and weed control, plant propagation, animal surveys, construction of a boardwalk for the new bird hide at Cattai Wetlands, water quality monitoring, and training in the application of herbicides, local Aboriginal cultural heritage, plant identification and first aid.

MidCoast Council’s sustainability and natural assets co-ordinator, Tanya Cross is proud of what the teams have achieved and would like to congratulate each and every Green Army member.

“Cattai Wetlands is home to numerous threatened species and endangered plant communities and there is only one per cent of lowland rainforest remaining in NSW, so the team has done a fantastic job in helping us to protect and restore these important ecological areas,” Tanya said.

“To give a bit of insight into what’s been accomplished, some of the targets achieved by our local Green Army teams include the treatment of weeds over 75 hectares of land, 400 kilograms of noxious weeds taken to landfill, the planting of 1000 trees and the propagation of 1850 native plants at council’s nursery,” Tanya said.

Another two Green Army teams are due to start in June 2017. They will continue and build on the great work that’s been undertaken.