The Perth Cultural Centre (PCC) Wetland was busier than usual on Wednesday the 20th of May as the Swan River Trust and Josh Byrne & Associates (JBA) held a hands-on education day for the Trust’s River Rangers program.
River Rangers from Coolbinia and Alinjarra Primary Schools learnt how to test water quality and how to identify Perth’s native wetland frogs, taking particular delight in the mournful moan of the Moaning Frog. Students were also given the opportunity to release a wide variety of fauna into the wetland, including native Slender Tree Frogs, Western Pygmy Perch and Gilgies.
The Swan River Trust River Rangers program is a primary school cadet initiative run in partnership with the Department of Local Government and Communities. It seeks to engage and educate our children to help us protect our Riverpark. Specifically, the project seeks to reinforce the importance of protecting the Swan Canning Riverpark among primary school students and helps cadets gain a positive and practical understanding of the local environment.
“By engaging River Rangers at the Perth Cultural Centre Wetland we promote the understanding of freshwater ecologies and water quality management in Perth’s precious wetlands”, said JBA General Manager Morgan Gillham. “It also provides us with the opportunity to introduce new fauna into the wetland, which promotes additional biodiversity. The kid’s absolutely love releasing fauna into the wetland and on this occasion they even managed to name the Gilgies”.
JBA Director Josh Byrne kicked off proceedings with a quick lesson on what the area used to look like, how it was designed and constructed, and how important this space is in context to the PCC. JBA was engaged by the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority (MRA) as the landscape design, sustainability and community engagement consultants for the PCC. As part of this role, JBA helped to convert the existing chlorinated water feature into a freshwater wetland and has delivered a series of community engagement activities to build ownership of the site and foster learning about sustainability.
For more information on the River Rangers program go to the River Guardians website or to find out more about the PCC wetland go to the PCC website.