Cadets Planting at the Airport

'Fun in the sun' is what we experienced on the 25th of May, when 24 young and eager Cadets ventured out to the Perth International Airport precinct.

We were a part of the Airport's 'Living Stream project', where students help in the planting of water tolerant plans in a flood water retention basin.

We started with an education session, and Peter, from the Department of Parks & Wildlife spoke to us about Western Shield, WA's native fauna protection and feral animal control program.

We were able to practice setting the traps they use to monitor animals, and learnt about the naturally occurring poison 1080, which is an important part of the program.

We also learnt about sand pads and sticky wicket traps which are used to identify animals without catching them.

We hope to try out a few of these on some of our camps, and will be feeding the information back to Western Shield.

Then we got to the planting, and we were able to plant over 1,000 sedges, which will help stop erosion and improve the quality of the water in the large stormwater retention basin.

In addition, our Cadets have been given the opportunity to apply for a grant of up to $1,000 from the Airport for an environmental program at our school.

We have participated in this opportunity with Perth Airport several times over the last 6 or 7 years and thank them for the wonderful opportunity.

Overall, the day was a 'sprouting' success, giving the Cadets some hands on experience and a better understanding of Western Australia's native wildlife and the pressures they face.

And the world has 1,000 more plants!

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