LANDCARE Broken Hill Inc has appointed a new local Landcare co-ordinator who’ll support the board to host engaging community meetings, activities and events, and work with volunteers to help progress plans for the Imperial Lakes Nature Park and Sustainability Hub project.
Ecologist, Selen Nazimye Bilal, was awarded the role, and said she’s most excited about being able to engage with community through education and events at the lakes.
“This kind of bringing the community in for education, engaging in these different learnings they can get from it,” she said.
Imperial Lakes, a 145-acre reserve managed by Landcare Broken Hill, is a conservation area where the organisation plan to develop a nature park.
Plans for the park include a focus on conservation, recreation, eco-tourism and environmental vocational training and education, which will make the site the first of its kind in the region.
Ms Bilal relocated from Wollongong for the role, and said she hopes to bring her interests in community events, music and arts to the role.
“My focus is on young people, community events like music and arts, and also mental health,” she said.
“So it’s be cool for people to be able to come here for nature therapy.”
Creative a space for the community is at the forefront of the plans for the park, Ms Bilal said.
“Building community here is so important. The main thing for me is to find out what the community wants,” she said.
Revegetating the reserve, which was formerly a reservoir site before being decommissioned, with native flora and fauna is also a big part of the plan.
“Revegetation will bring back native plants and animals that locals can enjoy and connect with – it’s about making the land lively again for everyone,” Ms Bilal said.
Ms Bilal studied wildlife and conservation biology at Deakin, saying her love of animals encouraged her to become an environmental scientist.
Since graduating she’s worked in ecology, bush regeneration, and more recently, education.
“I was going to schools and doing incursions and excursion in teaching about environmental issues, recycling, old growth forests, fire ecology, and getting to bring kids into the natural environment,” she said.
“Getting to see kid’s first experiences out in the forest on some of the excursions I took them on, and them spending that time in the environment was really impactful for them.”
She said watching the students interact with the environment around them and one another taught her the importance of community in conservation.
“As much as I came into it wanting to protect animals and the environment, a huge focus on it is community,” she said.
Landcare Broken Hill is seeking volunteers each Saturday from 9am to help water, weed, plant, paint and create at their Imperial Lakes site over morning tea.
You can register to become a volunteer member via the website: https://www.landcarebrokenhill.com/
