On Friday 19 July 2024, Greater Sydney Landcare hosted a corporate volunteering day for Laing O’Rourke and Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW), in partnership with Blacktown City Council.
Transport for NSW in partnership with Laing O’Rourke is delivering a new footbridge and northern plaza at St Marys Station as part of the Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport project.
Recently, 27 employees from Laing O’Rourke and Transport for New South Wales joined Greater Sydney Landcare to participate in ongoing bush regeneration works and biodiversity restoration at Nurragingy Reserve in Doonside.
Nurragingy Reserve is a 63-hectare park and bushland reserve and is home to a wide range of flora and fauna. It also contains critically endangered Cumberland Plain Woodland and increasingly uncommon freshwater wetlands – a part of the floodplain of Eastern Creek.
Greater Sydney Landcare’s Matt Keighery led the day, which included planting 200 Tall Sedges (Carex apressa)—a native grass of the wetlands. These plants were grown by Blacktown City Council’s nursery.
The Laing O’Rourke and Transport for New South Wales team also helped remove invasive weeds including medium sized privets of the small and large leaf varieties and a large patch of Lantana, all of which were dominating in one of our work areas.
After all the physical activity in the great outdoors, a cooked BBQ lunch was provided and greatly appreciated by all.
As well as removing weeds, the Laing O’Rourke and Transport for New South Wales group joined Mark Secombe and Sabina Roe from Greater Sydney Landcare’s Streamwatch team in monitoring local waterway health. Together they measured biotic and abiotic indicators of water quality from three ponds in the reserve.
This provided participants with valuable education about water and catchment—a vital component for sustaining life. The data gave us an indication of stream health and has been uploaded to Atlas of Living Australia to provide a historical record of conditions in the wetland, as well as Eastern Creek.
Laura Hogan, Community and Stakeholder Engagement Manager – St Marys Station Footbridge, from Laing O’Rourke said: “We had a wonderful day, thoroughly enjoyed by our entire team. Thank you again to you and your team, Matt.”
Thank you to the Laing O’Rourke and Transport for New South Wales employees for their help in caring for Nurragingy Reserve, and to Blacktown City Council for entrusting Greater Sydney Landcare to work with our corporate partners to benefit this incredible natural area.
Volunteer for Bushcare in the Blacktown LGA
If you’d like to contribute to environmental efforts in the Blacktown LGA, you can become a Bushcare volunteer and regenerate bushland. No experience is necessary as training is provided.
Corporate Volunteering with Greater Sydney Landcare
Find out more about Corporate Volunteering with Greater Sydney Landcare here. Be sure to download our Corporate Volunteering Info Pack.
