What we do in our everyday activities at home, work and play affects our local environment.

Everyone is responsible for protecting our environment, but often we lack the information and understanding to do so.

Environmental education is one way of providing the community with information on how to protect the local environment when carrying out their everyday activities.

Great Lakes Sustainable Business Program                                                           Marine Education

Creek to Coast Newsletter                                                                                            Fact Sheets

FOCUS on Energy Reduction                                                                                       Environmental Links

Great Lakes Underwater Group (GLUG) 

Great Lakes Sustainable Business Program

Great Lakes Council has received funding from the NSW Environmental Trust to implement a Sustainable Business Program.

The program aims to offer support and information to local business to assist with becoming more sustainable by reducing resource use and saving money. More information on the program and the Sustainable Business Partners can be found here. 

The 'Creek to Coast' is a Great Lakes wide Natural Resource Management newsletter to keep you up to date with positive actions and opportunities in the Great Lakes to care for our natural resources including waterways, agricultural land, urban areas and biodiversity.

Creek to Coast Autumn 2013

Creek to Coast Summer 2012/2013

Creek to Coast Spring 2012

Creek to Coast Winter 2012

Creek to Coast Autumn 2012

Creek to Coast Summer 2011/2012

Creek to Coast Spring 2011

Creek to Coast Winter 2011

Creek to Coast Autumn 2011

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FOCUS on Energy Reduction

Measure your electricity usage, save money and the environment

Did you know your dryer could be costing you $60 a year in electricity costs and could be releasing up to 500kg of greenhouse gas emissions each year! 

Residents of the Great Lakes now have free access to Power Usage Meters providing the tools to help households conduct a home energy assessment.  The assessment will help you pinpoint high energy consuming appliances and provide you with information on how much each appliance costs to run. By better understanding your energy consumption you can learn to make simple changes, potentially saving several hundred dollars a year and tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

The Power Usage Meter is a simple handheld device used to measure the electricity consumption and running costs of electrical appliances. The device calculates how much money it costs you to run your appliances for every hour, quarter or year.  The unit can even calculate the power used by appliances, like TV's, that use standby power.  Standby power is nearly 10% of household energy consumption.  Just by turning appliances off at the wall, households can save around $100 per year.

FOCUS on Energy Reduction kits are free to borrow from Forster and Tea Gardens Libraries.

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Volunteering has been taken to new depths with the formation of the Great Lakes Underwater Group (GLUG).

A group of dedicated divers donate their time to conduct regular dives along the coast of the Great Lakes to help develop knowledge of the species that make our marine habitat their home.

To protect our precious marine resources we need a clearer idea of what is out there.  It is very hard to protect something that we know very little about, and unfortunately there are large gaps in our knowledge of what lies beneath the water's surface.

With the implementation of the Great Lakes - Port Stephens Marine Park, it is important that a basic species list is developed to help contribute to any future data that may be collected.  The group is in the process of developing a species list for the area, and are continually being trained in fish identification and data collection.  If you are interested in joining the group, please contact Council.

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Project Aware on the Coast - this course was originally developed by Pittwater Council in 1995 with assistance from marine scientists when local intertidal areas were being over-harvested and degraded by urban pressures.  Our local course includes expert tutoring in the areas of Intertidal Ecology, Estuarine Habitats, Aboriginal Cultural Heritage, Fisheries Regulations; as well as field trips to local intertidal reefs and seagrass / mangrove ecosystems.

Summer Coastcare Activities - Each summer holidays, Council organises several fun, interactive and educational outdoor activities for local residents and visitors to participate in.  These activities include the Rockpool Ramble, Spot the Seagrass, Worimi Wonders, and the Coomba Crab Count.

Great Lakes Underwater Group (GLUG) - Council also support this volunteer group who conduct regular dives between Seal Rocks and Blackhead to record marine species, marine debris and monitor local grey nurse shark populations in our area.  GLUG also complete regular beach/underwater cleanup dives and assist with the presentation of the CMA education program, the Marine Discovery Series.

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Fact Sheets

Council has developed fact sheets on a number of environmental issues.

Gross Pollutant Traps Fact Sheet
Stormwater Pollution Fact Sheet
Constructed Wetlands Fact Sheet

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Useful links and references to government departments, environmental organisations and other helpful sites.

Government Departments

• NSW Health - Wastewater
• NSW Office of Environment & Heritage

• NSW Office of Environment & Heritage - Noise Control

• Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities

• NSW - National Parks and Wildlife Service

Legislation and Guidelines

• Local Government Act 1993
• Local Government (General) Regulation 2005
• Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997

Waste & Recycling

• Clean Up Australia
• Keep Australia Beautiful NSW
• Planet Ark
• Recycling Near You
• United Nations Environment Program
• SCRAP
• Midwaste Regional Waste Forum
• Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery in NSW

Other Sites and Organisations

• National Public Toilet Map
• RSPCA 
• WIRES
• Animal Welfare League

 Water Resources                        

•  NSW Office of Water
• Urbanwater - managing the urban water cycle: tools and resources