The Department of Forestry at The University of Melbourne with the financial support of the Myer Foundation, the RIRDC/LWRRDC/FWPRDC Joint Venture Agroforestry Program (JVAP) and the National Farm Forestry Program (AFFA) have developed and are delivering a unique and innovative participatory outreach and extension program for farmers active in revegetation, farm forestry and remnant forest management. Since the first program in 1996, 25 regional Australian Master Tree Grower (MTG) programs have been conducted involving more than 500 landholders across Australia.

By acknowledging and drawing on the commitment and experience of locally selected tree growers, the MTG program aims to instil confidence through knowledge, provide farmers with a support network and encourage them to truly aspire to be ‘master tree growers’ in their own right. By starting with the landholders' motivations, rather than ending with them, the program allows participants to investigate and farm forestry projects. This is leading to the full potential of multipurpose tree growing to be realised for economic, social and environmental outcomes for farmers and their rural communities.

In the current climate of Internet popularity, and the growth in the use of learning technologies in the classroom, there is increasing demand for the development of new and engaging web sites for use in schools. Most environmental education web sites and online learning programs still deliver information and continue to ‘raise awareness’ of environmental issues. The Gould League believes the internet can be used to take environmental education beyond awareness raising and web sites can be developed that empower students and their teachers and deliver both environmental and educational outcomes.

Wildscape is accessed through the Gould League web site and was the first of the Gould League's web-based online learning programs. It was created in response to requests from teachers for assistance with practical school ground environmental projects.

The Swan Mundaring Community Catchment Project (SMCCP) was a three year Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) funded partnership project between the Wooroloo Brook Land Conservation District Committee, the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council, the City of Swan, the Shire of Mundaring and Agriculture WA. The project was established in 1997 in response to a clear community demand for catchment-based coordination for existing initiatives and the recognised advantages of a strategic approach to future catchment management activities.

The SMCCP was one of the key Landcare initiatives of the Shire of Mundaring's Environmental Management Strategy. The success of the catchment project and a broad range of other Landcare and environmental initiatives within the shire was recognised in September 1999, when the Shire of Mundaring was awarded the biennial Telstra Local Government State Landcare Award. In addition a local community group, the Hovea-Parkerville Community Conservation Group was equal winner of the State Living Streams Award, sponsored by the Water and Rivers Commission. These awards are testimony to the ongoing commitment of the community and the Shire of Mundaring to valuing and protecting the environment.

This is not an academic paper. I write in the first person. And I write out of my own experience - not as a researcher but as a practitioner. So perhaps this is more like a letter, from one imperfect practitioner to others.

I live in a region of Australia where the main industry is coal mining. I and a partner run a small environmental education centre at the end of the farmland and the beginning of the forest in a peaceful and beautiful valley. I am privileged to work with around a thousand young people each year - mostly 9-12-year-olds. They and the living world of the forest where I live, are my teachers. The greatest joy of my work is that it is an endless process of learning and sharing: such is the vocation of an environmental educator. Children come to Wangat Lodge for three or four days. They come in groups of around thirty to forty - small enough for me to learn all of their names. We spend most of our time outdoors. I talk too much; I know they gain most when they are discovering things for themselves. We sing. We walk. We mime. We dance. We act. We write bad poetry. I could not wish for more fulfilling work.