Aurora Energy Volunteering: Caring for Wild Places.

Throughout the year Aurora Energy staff volunteer with different organisations, making positive impacts in our local communities. As a proudly 100% Tasmanian owned business, we know just how special our wilderness is. When the Aurora Energy team got the opportunity to help protect the places we love as part of our corporate volunteering program, it was something we jumped at getting behind.

Last week a team of 24 volunteers headed out with our newest corporate volunteering partner, Wildcare Tasmania, and their group at Wildcare Deslacs, a small volunteer group who help to manage the Cape Deslacs Nature Reserve.  

The focus for the volunteering was to remove the invasive weed Spanish Heath from a specific area. Although the flowers of the Spanish Heath might look pretty, the weed is highly invasive and can spread quickly and easily if not brought under control. The best way to manage Spanish Heath is to pull the plants when they are small, before they have a chance to spread. The team got busy pulling up the weed and cleared some of the overgrown tracks as well.  

“It was a great afternoon with the team and we were able to make a significant difference during our time spent volunteering with the group from Wildcare Deslacs. To illustrate the impact that corporate volunteers can have, one of the local Wildcare group members said what Aurora achieved that afternoon would have taken the group three months.” said Will Barbour (Chief Customer Officer).

The team also learned about the incredible habits and migration patterns of short-tailed shearwater birds (mutton birds) and got to see their nesting grounds. These birds travel all the way to Alaska and then return to the same nests in Tasmania each year. Protecting the habitats of native wildlife is another reason why volunteer groups like Wildcare are so important to protecting and maintaining wild places around Tasmania.  

The Aurora Energy team had a great time volunteering and chatting with Wildcare Deslacs volunteers about the work that goes into caring for wild places like the Cape Deslacs Nature Reserve. If you're interested in helping to take care of Tassie's wild places, consider Wildcare. There are over 55 volunteer groups across the state: https://www.wildcaretas.org.au/