MidCoast Council, Media Release, 29 August 2022
Celebrate the amazing environment, biodiversity and threatened species that call the Gloucester region home this September as part of the Gloucester Wild Festival.
Australia is home to more than 500,000 animal and plant species, many of which are found nowhere else in the world. In NSW there are close to 1000 species at risk of extinction, 116 of which are located in the Gloucester region.
September is National Biodiversity Month, a time for government agencies and community organisations to work with the community to help protect these species for the future.
“The festival will be full of fun events, to allow the community to learn more about the local environment and get their hands dirty participating. They will be able to hear from scientific experts working in the region, plant trees for habitat and undertake field investigations to look for threatened species,” Mathew Bell, Senior Ecologist for MidCoast Council said.
The event celebrates the passionate conservationists, researchers, volunteers, and experts in the Gloucester community and their work to protect the biodiversity of the area.
“The preparation for the festival has shown how important our local environment is to the Gloucester community and the collaboration between government organisations, community groups, local businesses and community members signals this,” Candice Skelton, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Project Officer said.
The festival has a variety of events including twilight tours, koala workshops, habitat planting for koalas and grey-crowned babblers, a Frog ID workshop, bushwalking and more.
The events will be popular and will fill up quick so visit, Gloucester Wild Threatened Species Festival – MidCoast Council (nsw.gov.au) to find out more and book your place.
- Friday 2 September – National Parks’ Copeland Tops Twilight Tour
- Saturday 3 September – Creating Koala Habitat workshop
- Tuesday 6 September – Fantastic Frogs
- Wednesday 14 September – Rainforest Regeneration
- Thursday 15 September – Habitat Planting Day
- Sunday 18 September – Bushwalking Basics
- Tuesday 20 September – Misunderstood Mistletoe
- Saturday 23 September to Monday 3 October – Wildlife Activity Trail with NPWS
- Friday 30 September – National Parks’ Koala Capers
- Friday 7 October – National Parks’ Copeland Tops Twilight Tour
- Saturday 8 October – Walk the Waters
The festival is being hosted to coincide with National Biodiversity Month and National Threatened Species Day. National Threatened Species Day falls on 7 September to commemorate the death of the last Tasmanian tiger.
Gloucester Wild is a festival to reconnect with nature and learn how it can be protected for future generations.
Festival participants can enter the festival prize pool, worth up to $1500, including an overnight stay and wildlife tour worth around $800 at Aussie Ark’s sanctuary in the Barrington Tops. Attendees will receive one entry for each event they attend.
This project is a joint initiative between the MidCoast Council and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, in collaboration with Aus Eco Solutions, Aussie Ark, Australian Museum, Birdlife Australia, Gloucester Business Chamber, Gloucester Environment Group, Hunter Local Land Services, Manning River Turtle Group and Mid Coast 2 Tops Landcare.
