Note: Some youth engagement ideas within.

Over 160 people attended the NSW Coastal Volunteers forum held in Wollongong from 27 February to 1 March. The forum brought together volunteers and agencies involved in carrying out coast and marine rehabilitation and conservation.

The CMA sponsored six volunteers to attend the forum, which provided an opportunity for coastcarers from NSW and beyond to get together and share their achievements and skills.

One of the volunteers sponsored by the CMA was Ngaire Southwell, a volunteer from Trees in Newcastle (TIN). She said it was wonderful to see the successes and challenges of other groups working in the Coastcare field and be among like-minded people for three days.

Ngarie said she was inspired by the 2010 Young Landcare Leader of the year Award recipient Erin Howe who had some advice for fellow delegates on engaging Generation Y in coastcare activities. Erin urged Coastcarers to skill up on social networking tools and look at alternative formats to the traditional Landcare field days to engage younger members of the community.

Erin said that young people have short attention spans, get bored easily and spend a lot of time on their phone, but are also quick learners, socially aware and, once engaged, highly motivated.

Les Robinson, from Enabling Change, introduced the idea of 'Passion mashing'-combining a passion with a task and TIN gave an example of how they are doing this with their Dance Plants, combining tree planting days with dance parties.

The National Marine Science Centre gave participants an insight into an Australian Government funded project being supported by the CMA, which is engaging volunteer divers across NSW to participate in monitoring underwater environments.

Local fungi expert Pam O'Sullivan also gave a fascinating presentation on the importance of fungi in dunes for healthier plants, recycling of nutrients and reduced degradation.

The Coastal Volunteers Forum was coordinated by Wycare, in conjunction with a range of sponsors, and was supported by the Hunter-Central Rivers CMA with funding from the Australian Government's Caring for our Country program. Proceedings can be obtained by contacting the CMA's Gosford office on 4337 1206.

Taken from CATCHMENT NEWS, April 2011 - The Newsletter of the Hunter Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority