Help care for nature

Volunteering with the City of Hobart’s Bushcare program is a great way to learn about Hobart’s bushland reserves and how to protect the native plants and animals that call them home.  

You can also help care for nature from your very own home, starting in your backyard or on your balcony.

We need more weed warriors!

Did you know that many of the weedy plants threatening Hobart’s bushland reserves originally came from people’s gardens? 

What seems like a perfectly harmless plant can turn into an environmental weed if it jumps your garden fence and heads into nearby bushland. We call them garden escapees!

But by responsibly disposing of your garden waste and removing environmental weeds from your garden you’ll be playing a part in protecting Hobart’s bushland reserves. 

Weed resources

• Weeds of Southern Tasmania booklet 
• Major Weeds of Tasmania
• The Fern Tree Weed Booklet.
• Weeds Australia
• Grow Me Instead - Tasmania

• Gardens for Wildlife 

If you want to dig even deeper into Tasmania’s weeds, control methods and management strategies, take a look at the Tasmanian Government’s website and NRM South's priority weed brochures.

And if you need more help these weed removal fact sheets might help. 

Habitat gardens

Using the plants that are native to your region is a great way to create a habitat sanctuary in your own garden that will attract local birds and other wildlife, including butterflies.

• NRM South has created an excellent native plants of Hobart list that will help you find the right native plants for your garden.

• They have also created a fantastic Native Gardens guide.

By creating a habitat sanctuary in your own garden you will be providing food and shelter for our native plants, insects, birds and other animals. 

As well as putting in native plants you can also create rock gardens, nest boxes and even native bee hotels to provide more shelter for native wildlife.

Rock gardens, nest boxes, bird baths, frog ponds and native bee hotels are also great ways of attracting native wildlife into your garden, and provide natural stepping stones between our bushland reserves.

• Discover how to create a wildlife garden and encourage bush birds into your garden with NRM South's wonderful Bush Birds brochure.

Become a citizen scientist

You don’t need a science degree to be a citizen scientist, just a curious nature and an enthusiasm for the natural world around us.

By contributing your observations on nature to online apps like iNaturalist, Fungimap and FrogID you are making a valuable contribution to our understanding of Hobart’s bushland reserves and the wildlife that rely on them for survival.

Here are just a few citizen science programs you can get involved with:

• Wild Pollinator Count

• Butterflies Australia

• Fungimap

• Aussie Backyard Bird Count

• Fairywren Project

• FrogID 

A more comprehensive list has been compiled by the Australian Citizen Science Association.