Students learn through erosion campaign

Badly eroded sand dunes at Cape Clairault, Injidup, received a helping hand recently when a group of Year 10 students from Busselton Senior High School began a native planting campaign to help restore the fragile dune systems.

A group of 26 students worked alongside Yallingup Land Conservation District Committee volunteers to plant more than 1000 native plants at the site earlier this term.

Year 10 teacher and co-ordinator Geoff Holt said the activity was a great way to link theory with practical action.

“We’re studying sustainability and biodiversity in the curriculum and we found out that the South West capes is a biodiversity hotspot; in other words it’s got unique flora and fauna that’s not found anywhere else in the world,” he said.

“We found that loss of habitat is the single biggest threat to ecosystems and it has been great for our students to volunteer their time and effort to help preserve our unique coastal environment.”

Student Sally Barnsby said it was a great opportunity to learn about planting natives.

“We learned to plant the seedlings with two thirds of them buried in the sand so that their roots would be moist and they would survive,” she said.