help create a green corridor

how to get involved

Waterline planting 2019
Become a volunteer 

Our volunteers are active on biodiversity sites year-round. Join our mailing list or Facebook page for diary dates and events. 

Donor Geoff Wells
Make a donation

We are 100% volunteer: no office, no paid staff, no contractors. Donations in cash or in-kind directly support volunteers.

Senior Bird Watchers. Pic: unknown
Record what you see

Become a citizen scientist by visiting a site with your phone or camera, or walk the Sturt River Linear Park to see them all! 

Josh City of Marion 2020
Choose local-native plants

Live local, plant local. Make room for nature in your yard, verge or balcony. Contact us for lists of plants endemic to your area.

WHERE TO START

vOLUNTEER YOUR TIME

The goal is ambitious so we need many, many helping hands. Volunteers are active year-round along the Sturt River in Marion and Holdfast Bay local government areas.

Some volunteers care for their local reserve, while others care for multiple sites. Where you volunteer is up to you! Our group is a welcoming, supportive environment for you to explore nature and gain a sense of achievement by working with the community to create a natural green space. What better legacy?  Volunteer individually, or bring a group.

Use the slider controls to view our honour roll, groups who volunteer every year.

WE'VE GOT YOU COVERED

We provide registered volunteers with:

  • Insurance coverage.
  • Occupational Health & Safety instruction.
  • Tools, gloves & personal protective equipment.
  • Guidance on plant identification.

Contact us to join our volunteer mailing list: 

JOIN a working bee

WEEKEND WORKING BEES 

Working bees are a great way for groups and individuals to come together and get a lot done in a short time - and still have time for morning tea!

We offer working bees for most of the year, with the exception of December-February when we have an extended break over the summer.

  • Fortnightly working bees for 2-3 hours on Sunday morning.
  • Community education events.
  • Citizen-science activities.

Contact us for dates & details:

Group shot of working bee volunteers

Volunteer working bee, November 2021. 

USE YOUR EXPERTISE

SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE

We value community education and citizen science. If you have a scientific background, or you have spent years in the field observing local-native plants and animals - we'd love to hear from you. Come find your tribe and share what you've learned!

An impressive 70 species now live in or visit the local reserve along the river at present - but we want to encourage more! 
- Andrew Crouch

Volunteer to share your knowledge as a community educator or an advisor to our Committee of Management. For example, Andrew is our local resident volunteer on bird matters.  He shares his knowledge and passion for native birds with volunteers, residents and site visitors by:

  • Identifying birds that inhabit the corridor, what they look like, sound like, their behaviours
  • Leading guided walks to increase community awareness of our native birds
  • Providing photos and educational material for volunteers & local residents
  • Advising on planting layouts to support existing bird populations and attract new species.
Andrew Crouch, bird walk at Fordham. Pic:S.Kerr 2022

Andrew Crouch leading a 'Walk, talk and squawk' session at Fordham Reserve, 2022. 

Individuals are too small, government is too big,  communities can make a difference

COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS IN 2022 ALONE

1+
Working bees
1+
Seedlings planted
1+
Planting days
1+
Seedlings donated
Shah Satnam Ji Green S Welfare Force Wing volunteers
FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGNS

make a donation  to support volunteers

Jane & Dale (RIP) at Bob Lewis Reserve
Volunteer support 2023-24

We will gratefully accept your donation to support volunteers to continue creating and caring for the green corridor.

Reached: $300
Goal: $1000
Donation

Friends of Sturt River Landcare Group is 100% volunteer. We do not have paid staff, contractors or offices, and we have no plans to change that.

But we do have some running costs that we raise funds to meet.  Some of our supporters are not able to contribute by physically volunteering, so they support us in other ways.

We very much appreciate donations of cash, goods or services in-kind to support our activities. Please email us if you would like to make a donation of cash or an EFT transfer.

In-kind contributions

We also appreciate donations of goods or services to support our volunteers. For example, this year we have been gifted the services of a professional accountant, a web designer and a mechanical engineer to help fit out our mobile tool trailer.   

We also received donations of field guides of native plants and animals and books on seed collection and plant propagation to add to our volunteer's library. 

We tend to use a lot of the following items: 

  • Stationery, print cartridges or print cards for fact sheets
  • Washable gloves in child and adult sizes
  • Tea, coffee, long-life milk and plant-based milks
  • Dust masks

Please let us know if you'd like to donate these items.

You can also support us by liking our Facebook page.

look, listen & learn

visit the sites, record what you see

We keep records of the plant species we add to the corridor - as well as those that naturally regenerate or self-seed. We also record sightings of local native animals that visit or live on the sites. Evidence can be a photograph of the animal, or its tracks, skin or scat (droppings) as well as scratch marks, burrows, nests, drays or eggs. 

We provide free educational talks for groups of local kids to share this knowledge with the next generation of citizen scientists. A growing band of visitors (of all ages) come armed with binoculars, phones or recording devices to observe and record urban wildlife. Please join them in recording what you see. We'd love to hear what you find.

citizen science apps & ID groups on Facebook
  • iNaturalist Australia & Atlas of Living Australia.
  • Frog ID, Australian Museum. 
  • e-Bird (global bird sighting data) & Birdata (Birds in Backyards survey data).
  • Butterflies Australia.
  • Amphibians, lizards, skinks other reptiles: SA Herpetology Group.
  • Bee Aware of Your Native Bees Australia.
  • Australian Reptile & Amphibian Identification.
  • South Aussie Birding.
  • Not sure what you've found?  Ask SA Natureteers.
Tawny Frogmouth Family. Dec 2014.
live local, plant local

choose local-native  plants at home 

We plant only local-native plant seedlings into the biodiversity sites we create along the Sturt River. These are the species botanists and ecologists tell us would have made up the plant communities of this area before it was cleared

The seedlings we plant have been grown from seed or cuttings collected from healthy plants growing near to, or in similar environmental conditions, to the planting sites they go back into.

We only purchase plants from specialist native nurseries rather than commercial garden suppliers or hardware stores. When our volunteers donate plants into reserves, they are grown from provenance seed we collect or supply from ethical collectors. We do this because:

  • This is the easiest and simplest way to revegetate effectively on a large scale.
  • Plants are adapted to where they grow and have high survival rates.
  • Relationships between plants and animals can re-establish.
  • Local-native species can also make a great addition to your garden, verge, or courtyard.

Species lists

If you're thinking about adding to your garden why not plant local-natives at your place? You don't need loads of room and there are plenty of local-natives for small spaces. Our volunteers are happy to share what we've learned about which species could work for you, where to purchase them, or how to grow them yourself!

Contact us for a species list: 

Twelve of the 45 species now planted at Fordham Reserve, Glenelg North. Roll your mouse over the image to see the name of the plant. Click onto an image for a closer look.

our gardens are critical

Adelaide is losing unprecedented amounts of tree canopy cover from public and private land, resulting in a hotter, less liveable city.

backyard buddies

choose local-native  plants at home

When it comes to shading our streets and cooling our suburbs every tree counts, but our local-native trees, shrubs and grasses cool us and are also havens for our wildlife. Your garden can be a low maintenance, climate-resilient 'safe house' for all sorts of native birds, animals, insects, reptiles and amphibians.

Chequered swallowtail butterfly. Pic Matt Endacott
Bringing back butterflies

Try host and nectar plants on your verge, or small cottage garden to bring back native butterflies and other pollinators.

Bringing back butterflies
New Holland Honeyeater. Pic:unknown
Havens for small birds

Plant seedlings with range of heights, add insect-attracting plants and don't overdo nectar-producers, to bring in small birds.

Encouraging native birds
Blue tongue lizard. Pic: Stock photo
Homes for lizards

Leaf litter, bark, native grasses and rocks provide camouflage, shelter and a steady diet of insects to eat.

Homes for lizards
Spotted marsh frog
Frog-friendly gardens

Create a frog-bog using pond plants surrounded by reeds, sedges and tussock grasses, mulch and ground covers.

frog-friendly gardens
Microbat. Pic: Wildlife Secrets
Bats in your backyard

Leave your mosquito control to microbats who eat half their body weight in insects on warm summer nights.

Bats in your backyard
Possum (juvenile)
Gardens and possums

Plant local-native eucalypts and add a nesting box to welcome a possum into your backyard.

Gardens and possums

Thoughtful design and knowledge of which local-native plant species are endemic to your area is all you need to get started. Download fact sheets from the Backyards4Wildlife project for inspiring ideas on how to welcome nature back to your place. Want to learn more? Join us as a volunteer.