Students add life to conservation area

Throughout April, several schools, including Belmont City College, Redcliffe and Belmont primary schools, planted more than 6000 seedlings at the Kwenda Marlak conservation area at the Perth Airport.

The area is part of the 306ha of land reserved on the airport’s 2105ha estate set aside for conservation and the site of the Perth Airport School Planting program, which was established in 2006. Belmont Primary School has been a part of the program for the past six years with about 30 students from years 4 and 5 taking part in planting and an indigenous heritage awareness bush walk with a representative from the Department of Environment and Conservation.

Year 5 student Fletcher O’Reilly (10) and his classmates planted 282 plants during their visit and learned about native plants.

‘My favourite thing was going on the bush walk because it shows us old food and trees and how we can brush our teeth with tree sap,’ Fletcher said. ‘My teacher said we might be coming back in winter so I am looking forward to that.’