Central West Lachlan Landcare have once again celebrated Eco Day with schools from Forbes Shire, Parkes Shire and Eugowra.

Over 300 Year 5 students came together on Tuesday, October 22 to learn more about the environment, land use and how they can make a difference as they grow and contribute in our communities.

A big thanks to Parkes Racecourse for use of their facility on the day.

The weather was amazing, with a fresh start and a warm day.

We were thrilled to once again have the support of the Junior River Ranger Program, Parkes Shire Council Environmental staff, Evolution NorthParkes Mine staff, Parkes Community Arts, Petaurus Education, Envirocom and Netwaste.

We were also fortunate to have the support of many volunteers.

Without them days like this would not be possible.

We welcomed back Jacqui with her Travelbug insects and Wiradjuri Storryteller Larry.

Children came away from the day having learnt about native and introduced species of fish and their habitats, water treatment processes, waterbugs and macroinvertebrates, biodiversity and habitats, mining and land management.

All workshops had an interactive element, which is fabulous for Year 5 students.

Central West Lachlan Landcare were proud to once again host a group of fabulous young people from our local schools and our volunteers and presenters come away from days like this being inspired by the students that we are teaching and encouraged that we have intelligent, enthusiastic young people who can go back to their school communities and educate others.

Schools Eco Day is an annual undertaking by Central West Lachlan Landcare and we have already commenced planning for 2025!

We thank the schools that are involved and hope that we will be able to make more opportunities like this available to more students.

This event was funded by Central West Lachlan Landcare and only possible due to the support of so many other organisations and volunteers providing workshops and an amazing space to work within.

We were also fortunate to welcome Jim from the Forbes Men’s Shed to give away some of the bird boxes that the Men’s Shed had made for our local schools with the support of Landcare.

This initiative is made possible by the NSW Landcare Enabling Program, a collaboration between Local Land Services and Landcare NSW supported by the NSW Government.

For further information on this article, please go to www.centralwestlachlanlandcare.org, twitter, facebook or Instagram @cwllandcare or contact Marg Applebee on 0418 611 053.