Indigo Shire supports a number of annual environmental events such as National Tree Day, Clean Up Australia Day as well as the new Schools Environmental Education Day.  These events provide a great opportunity to increase general awareness regarding environmental issues, as well as encourage active community involvement in natural resource management.

Clean Up Australia Day

Every year hundreds of Australians help clean up their local environment on Clean Up Australia Day.  It’s fun, it’s easy and everyone can take part. 

Held during March each year Clean Up Australia Day is an event that often attracts participation by many community groups.  These groups register their site, via the Planet Ark website, and encourage their members and other volunteers to help ‘clean up’ their site.  Indigo Shire can support these registered groups through advertising their site, waiving entry fees to transfer stations and through provision of information.

Schools National Tree Day - 2008

Schools National Tree Day was a success this year with 15 of the 17 schools in the Shire participating in the event, plus one kindergarten.  Each year Indigo Shire donates indigenous trees and shrubs to each willing school for planting in their grounds.  This provides students with an awareness of what plants are local to the area, the benefits of planting indigenous plants and also introduces them to some of the species that they are likely to see in the bush near them.

This project has been running for four years and provides schools with the resources and advice to participate in this event.  Many schools also involve other community groups such as Landcare and Lions to help with the site preparation. 

“It is great to walk around the school yards and see previous year plantings thrive” says Natural Resource Management Officer Shay Simpson.  The plantings are also well received by the schools who are now becoming more environmentally orientated with installation of rainwater tanks, recycling and vegetable gardens. 

Indigo Shire Council would like to thank all participating schools and volunteers who made these activities a success.

For north east specific environmental information for use in schools, please go to www.necma.vic.go.au/seed

SCHOOLS ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION DAY (SEED DAY)

Beginning in 2006 in Beechworth, Schools Environmental Education Day has become an annual event within Indigo Shire.  The event is a partnership between a number of organisations – North East Catchment Management Authority, NevRWaste and North East Greenhouse Alliance.  Participation of all these bodies allows students to become aware of a range of environmental issues, which focuses on Our Waste, Our Biodiversity, Our Water and Our Climate.

Held in Chiltern in 2008  schools throughout the Shire were also treated to  fascinating and exciting activities from representatvies of DPI, DSE, CMA, NEW  and Indigo Shire, a highlight of the day was a "Circus Sustainable" by Vox Bandicoot.  Discussions are underway regarding preparations for SEED 2009!