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She is a brilliant and passionate Junior Landcarer who on World Environment Day is a shining example of the impact a young landcarer can have in the community. 

She may only be 11 years old, but she is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to tackling environmental challenges.  She is a member of Friends of the Western Swamp Tortoise (FoWST) and Secretary/Co-President Youth Council and a Herne Hill Scout.  Tree planting, rubbish clean-ups, monitoring programs and surveys, installing nesting boxes, water health, weed identification, education, you name it, she does it!  

In the last 2 years, Katie volunteered over 60-hours to educating scouts and community members in sustainable Landcare practices and was a driving force in the establishment of a WST Youth-Council. Katie’s Landcare presentations inspired Cubs to volunteer in beach clean-ups and pursue Landcare badges and got the Cubs and Cub Leaders involved in other planting events.  

Katie has investigated endangered animals (cockatoos and WST), worm farming, recycling, water quality, waterbugs, pollinators and why they’re important. She was an inaugural member of the “Kaarakin Cockatoo Club”, participating in workshops at Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Conservation Centre. 

Back in July 2018, Katie participated in National Tree Day with her Scout Group, planting 150 seedlings at Maali Park. Unfortunately, the site was vandalised, so a couple of months later Katie helped plant replacement seedlings, construct and install new tree guards and spread mulching.   It was a tricky site, with hard clay to dig holes for the seedlings, no taps or watering facility on site, and with the school holidays looming, no-one wanted to volunteer to water seedlings over the holidays.  

Katie volunteered twice-weekly over the heat of summer 2018/2019 school-holidays to water plants. Using a bucket tied to rope to draw water from the Swan River, Katie carried buckets up the steep riverbank to hand-water each plant. In August 2019 Katie helped with the planting of 200 seedlings in mulched beds, erecting tree-guards and placing handwritten signs with her name, age and a plea for the seedlings to be left to grow. 

On this World Environmental Day, we salute Katie for leading by example, championing the Western Swamp Tortoise, founding a Youth Council for its preservation and inspiring and educating her peers with Landcare activities that will leave a legacy in her community.