US rangers help out at Narmbool

ABOUT eight hundred and fifty native trees have been planted by volunteers from the California Conservation Corps at Sovereign Hill’s two-thousand hectare property, Narmbool.

Nine volunteers were at the site for three days last week, helping create a wildlife refuge for native animals.

Conservation Volunteers Australia team leader Matt Wills said that the planting success rate has been above 85 per cent and went towards repairing land damaged by the Scotsburn fire in 2015.

“This will add to the bio-diversity of the site and create that wildlife refuge through the riparian zone,” he said.

The CCC volunteers travelled to Australia from California six weeks ago and have already worked on conservation projects in Brisbane, Warrnambool, Lorne and Hamilton.

“They’re now working on Narmbool for the week and then they head into the city on the weekend, work with our Melbourne team leaders for the next two weeks and then that’s them done,” Mr Wills said.

The work CCC members do in Australia can be different from tasks undertaken in the US. For example, while in Hamilton the Corps members spent time removing pine trees, while back home they plant pines and remove invasive gums.

Conservation Volunteers Australia has been running an exchange program with the CCC for over 30 years.

CCC member Alex Castaneda said that the Corps is a state program that deals with natural resources and emergency assistance at events like forest fires.

“We respond to any type of emergency, it’s usually fires but we also respond to floods, earthquakes, oil spills,” he said.

Elisa Cano, from Ventura County near Los Angles said that none of the Corps members knew each other before they came to Australia, but that changed after they spent a few days orientation in Stockton.

“A lot of what the CCC promotes is community building you’re building this community, this repertoire with your crew regardless if you’ve been working with them for five months or two days,” she said.