Scouts busy planting for town's greener future

In an era of iPads and YouTube a significant portion of the next generation won't know how to get their hands dirty, but not at Scouts Roma.

FUTURE PROOFING: Tayla Lee, Renton Silvester and Cooper Regan from Roma Scouts are growing trees for the future of the Roma Bush Gardens. Picture: Ellen Ransley

IN AN era of iPads and YouTube a significant portion of the next generation won't know how to get their hands dirty, but Scouts Roma is inspiring dozens of young people to plant for the future.

Joe Regan, group leader of Roma Scout Group and president of Roma Bush Gardens, has put together a program to encourage the younger generation to learn about the diverse ecosystems in their town.

"We're working on changing the gardens into an education centre, where they interact with a website and there will be learning activities for kids as young as five,” he said.

"Here at Scouts we're teaching our children about ecology, biodiversity, seed harvesting and propagation, and it all starts here in our greenhouse.

"We have 14 sections of the Roma Bush Gardens, our five sections here take control of different areas and learn about the biodiversity we've got there now, and about how to make it more sustainable.”

Mr Regan said it was an opportunity to not only educate the young, but the community as a whole.

"It educates the community on our natural environment, what it is and what we can do on an everyday basis. Kids know their iPads and their social media but they're keen to learn more about getting their hands dirty,” he said.

Cooper Regan, 11, said it was important the community understood how special the bush gardens were.

"You'd think there's only three types of trees there, but there's about 50,” he said.

"There's some trees that help you with illnesses, others really do encourage wildlife. It makes me feel proud to see the trees we've planted in the gardens, because I know I'm helping the environment.

"I'm looking forward to planting more trees when the drought breaks.”

Seven-year-old Tayla Lee said one of her favourite things about Scouts was the chance to get her hands "grubby”.

"I really like trees, you can encourage birds to come and live in them.”.

Originally published as Scouts busy planting for town's greener future