Ashby Nature Discovery
Founded by our former Deputy Chairperson Barbara Winters, and funded through bushfire recovery grants from Clarence Valley Council and Healthy North Coast, the Ashby Nature Discovery project is a first-of-its-kind initiative for the Ashby area. The idea was to come together in nature to care for Country and reconnect, after a tough few years with droughts, fires, floods and pandemic restrictions.
The Ashby Nature Discovery team grew out to about 80 volunteers, who all helped organise activities, catering, trail infrastructure and local contributions.
While hampered by the 2021/22 Covid outbreaks in New South Wales, there was on average one activity each month and our trail was completed and officially opened in October 2022.
The youngest participant was an 11-month-old koala enthusiast and the oldest was a 90-year-old volunteer who helped several times with bush regeneration.
It's safe to say that the project had something for everyone and the end result is a wonderful nature trail that everyone can enjoy for many years to come!
Getting active: Creating a Nature Discovery Trail
Guided by the Yaegl bush regenerators from Envite Environmental, we got together during several working bees to create a nature trail in the tranquil Ashby Reserve. The winding trail takes you past a melaleuca swamp and has an audio guide for smart phones that goes into the fascinating local flora, fungi and fauna.
Getting educated: Nature themed Walk & Talks
In 2021 we learnt about koala care, how to correctly identify and catch pesky cane toads, how to find hidden fungi and the role they play in the forest, which tree species are common in the reserve and much, much more...
Getting creative: Botanical Art Classes, Weaving with native fibres and more...
Nature can be very inspiring and it's wonderful to come together to learn from professional and hobby artists how to draw plants and flowers or how to create jewellery from natural fibres. The Ashby Nature Discovery project organised several artistic classes in 2021/22.
