NGT Volunteer Profile – Carole Ryan

In the lead-up to Volunteer Week in May, we will be featuring some of our wonderful volunteers in each month’s newsletter. This month we have the second installment: meet Carole Ryan of the University of the Third Age, a gardener, child sponsor, passionate supporter of the conservation of nature and long-term NGT nursery volunteer!

Hi, I’m Carole Ryan. My interests include gardening, anything to do with the environment and wildlife, social issues, attempting to keep active and the grey matter ticking over. When I retired, I joined the University of the Third Age. One of the groups I attended was the Environmental group and although it was very interesting learning what various organisations were about in regard to environmental issues, I felt I would prefer to contribute in a more useful way. I had seen the Nature Glenelg Trust sign on the fence in Mt Gambier and decided to volunteer. Initially it was both field work and the nursery, but now it is the nursery only. Not quite sure how long I have been volunteering with NGT….around 6 years?

I enjoy the company of like-minded volunteers and although there is a diverse range of backgrounds and knowledge, there is learning on a number of fronts. It is very rewarding knowing that being involved in revegetation planting at Mt Burr Swamp has had an impact on the increasing numbers of birdlife, bats, frogs etc. at the site.

I also volunteered for several years for Friends of Parks, Mt Gambier & District. For many years I have regularly donated to the Tasmanian Land Conservancy, The Wilderness Society, WWF and other similar organisations in possibly the vain hope of trying to preserve an increasing number of species. Presently I am sponsoring another Bangladeshi child, this time a boy. The two previous children were girls in the hope of giving them a better life. For the last seven years I have been on the University of the Third Age committee, holding a variety of positions and regularly attending three of the activities and two others on a less frequent basis.

I am so impressed with what Nature Glenelg Trust has achieved, the committed and enthusiastic staff and I’m very proud of being an extraordinarily small, small cog in a very productive environmental wheel.

Carole Ryan

As a non-profit organisation, volunteers are an integral part of the work we do at here at NGT. Our volunteers do vital conservation work, like sorting seeds and growing seedlings in the nursery, helping to restore degraded ecosystems through planting and weed control, assisting with surveys, and one is even a live-in caretaker on one of our reserves! Thank you Carole for all the hard work you do. It is invaluable to our organisation and truly appreciated!