Great Ocean Road Coast Committee Blog
News and stories from our iconic coast
It was all hands on deck last month as Geelong Lutheran College helped plant 50 dune stablising plants at Whites Beach.
Geelong Lutheran College Campus Principal Barry Krueger was one of the first teachers to set up the long-standing partnership between the school and Great Ocean Road Coast’s education programs. Read more
The Great Ocean Road Coast Committee environmental education students have contributed more than 820 hours of conservation work on the coast between Torquay and Lorne in the last 12 months, planting over 2,400 indigenous species and removing tens of thousands of weeds. Read more
A series of acts of environmental vandalism have made students more determined to help protect the coastal environment. Unfortunately, hundreds of stakes and tree guards were removed from conservation sites over summer with a Spring Creek revegetation area in Torquay almost stripped bare.
GORCC’s Coast Guardians program is a special, ongoing program created for year 9 students from four local and regional schools. Each school works on protecting and enhancing a local coastal area. Here is a poem written by the Lorne Aireys Inlet students which they presented at the 2016 Coast Guardians Forum Read more
Students from four local schools celebrated their commitment to coastal conservation on the Surf Coast at the annual Coast Guardians Forum hosted by the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee (GORCC) last Thursday. Read more
Year 9 students from Geelong Lutheran College have teamed up with the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee to monitor the shifting sand movements caused by nature at Whites Beach. Read more
The Great Ocean Road Coast Committee (GORCC) budget for the 2016-2017 financial year which includes a significant increase to environmental education funding. Read more
Lorne and Aireys Inlet P-12 College students have partnered with the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee (GORCC) to regenerate the Erskine Paddock area in Lorne as part of the Coast Guardians Program – a free educational program, which aims to increase environmental awareness in local schools. Read more
World Environment Day is Sunday 5th June and the Surf Coast Secondary College students have already begun to help protect valuable Surf Coast flora and fauna in today’s Coast Guardians session.
The 2016 Coast Guardians program is well underway with the Geelong Lutheran College embracing the picturesque blue skies earlier in May.
The Coast Guardians Program is special, ongoing program created by GORCC for year 9 students from four local and regional schools.
The days session began at Fisherman’s Beach Torquay for a Intertidal Beach Exploration before students headed over to Whites Gap for dune analysis.
Great Ocean Road Coast Committee (GORCC) Coast Guardians Education Coordinator Hilary Bouma said the day was a fantastic way to highlight the importance of environmental protection, especially at Whites Gap.
“Students are participating in a ‘Shifting Sands Monitoring Project’ at the Gap to measure the changes in the sand height over the year.
“Programs such as the Coast Guardians allows students to visibly see the seasonal sand movements and erosion that occurs as part of the natural coastal process, and also gain an insight into how human impacts can greatly impact these processes,” she said.
The program is aimed at increasing awareness around coastal conservation issues and encouraging social responsibility and environmental stewardship.
Geelong Lutheran College Year 9 Teacher Dale Thomson has a strong background in marine biology and said the program was a fantastic educational source to allow students to connect with the coastal environment in a meaningful way.
“The program allows students to become broadly considerate on the environment they live in and see the impacts their interactions have within coastal habitats.
“The students begin to understand the complexity of balancing user groups and can see the positive impact of their hands-on participation,” he said.
Students examined a wide variety of sea weeds and shells washed up on beach as Ms Bouma discussed the importance and functions of these marine objects.
Plastic pollution was also a hot topic, and students learnt about the issues and consequences for marine and coastal life from the discarded waste.
A key highlight for the group was working at Whites Gap, the rehabilitation site Geelong Lutheran College Coast Guardians have been working on for the past five years.
“Coastal Guardians delivers supporting, relevant evidence to class based work on the environment, biology, oceanography and meteorology,” Mr Thompson said.
The program is aimed at increasing awareness around environmental issues and encouraging social responsibility and environmental stewardship. Ultimately, it is hoped that participants will be able to walk along a protected coast in years to come and enjoy the benefits of their hard work.
Great Ocean Road Coast Committee Blog 