On Monday 11th November 2024, Greater Sydney Landcare hosted a rewarding corporate volunteering day for nine Spirax Sarco employees at Carnarvon Golf Club in Lidcombe, located within the Cumberland LGA. The team was supporting the Creating Canopies project – to reduce urban heat in Greater Sydney by increasing canopy cover.
Creating Canopies Project Manager Danielle Packer welcomed the Spirax Sarco team back to the site, which they have worked on with Greater Sydney Landcare and golf club volunteers many times before—including three visits in 2023.
The Spirax Sarco team, as always, was keen to get stuck in. They helped dig holes with an auger and hand tools, mulched an otherwise barren garden bed, and planted 150 native trees and shrubs and watered them in.
The plants installed were chosen for their suitability to the local natural environment and will help increase biodiversity and habitat for wildlife. The species planted included gum trees (eucalypts), paperbarks (melaleucas), wattles (acacias), banksias, hakeas and more. Many will grow to three metres and above to provide shade and cooling canopy cover, which has an important role to play in reducing urban heat in the Greater Sydney region.
The Spirax Sarco team enjoyed having a look at plantings they had installed during previous visits and were pleased to see that they were all looking very healthy. Thanks to the consistent work all have been putting into this site over time, great progress has been made.
Exploring Water Quality With Streamwatch
Greater Sydney Landcare’s Streamwatch Coordinator Mark Secombe led Spirax Sarco in monitoring the water quality of the golf course’s creek. Donning his waders and grabbing his dip net, Mark collected water samples, which the group ran through the Streamwatch water quality testing kit to detect pollutants.
Mark also added the water samples to sorting trays, which allowed everyone to observe a variety of weird, wonderful and interesting waterbugs—aquatic insects and crustaceans. As certain bugs thrive when a waterway is clear with little pollution, and other species appear in more disturbed and human-affected waters, waterbugs are a widely used bioindicator of environmental health that can let you know whether pollutants in a waterway are at environmentally significant concentrations. Monitoring the same waterway over time builds up a picture of how the environment is responding and what might need to be done to mitigate any issues.
The Spirax Sarco team was keen to increase their environmental awareness of the site as well as continuing to give back and have a positive impact on nature.
Corporate Volunteering Benefits with Landcare
Corporate volunteering days with Greater Sydney Landcare are a fantastic opportunity for teams to get together and bond. With many staff working remotely, opportunities for face-to-face connections are invaluable for improving morale, building relationships, and fostering collaboration.
Immersion in nature is also a great stress reliever. By getting away from the desk and moving our bodies, we can enjoy some lovely physical and mental wellbeing benefits. Contributing to nature in a positive way also gives a sense of accomplishment, as just a few hours of work can make a significant impact on the local environment.
Working Together to Maximise Environmental Impact
A heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone involved in making this day possible. Collaborative efforts like these amplify our positive impact on nature. Special thanks to Spirax Sarco for their ongoing commitment to working with Greater Sydney Landcare and for effectively acting as the Landcare group for this habitat.
A big thank you also goes to Carnarvon Golf Club for volunteering their land for environmental restoration and cooling canopy that will create a lasting legacy for generations to come. Carnarvon Golf Club also provided a delicious lunch for all involved in the day—it was greatly appreciated and helped fuel our conservation efforts!
Together, we can continue making a difference.
Volunteer for Bushcare in the Cumberland Area
If you’d like to contribute to environmental efforts in the Cumberland Area, you can become a Bushcare volunteer and regenerate bushland. No experience is necessary as training is provided.
Corporate Volunteering with Greater Sydney Landcare
Find out more about Corporate Volunteering with Greater Sydney Landcare and be sure to download our Corporate Volunteering Info Pack.
Get Involved in Creating Canopies
If you’d like to find out how to get free trees planted on your land, you can Register Your Site for Trees.
Come along and plant trees with Creating Canopies. Find out what events we have coming up on Greater Sydney Landcare’s Eventbrite.
About Creating Canopies
Landcare NSW and Greater Sydney Landcare are planting 200,000 trees as part of the Greening our City program to help reduce urban heat in Greater Sydney. Proudly funded by the NSW Government.
