Rankin Park Landcare veteran Karen Ayliffe wins Lake Macquarie’s top Landcare honour

newy.com.au – Rankin Park Landcare volunteer Karen Ayliffe has been awarded the John Hughson ‘Soaring with the Eagles’ Award, the top honour at the 2025 Lake Macquarie Environmental Excellence in Landcare Awards.

The annual awards recognise volunteer-led environmental work across Lake Macquarie, with Ayliffe’s citation describing a “regionally significant” contribution to the environment and the wider community after three decades of local bush regeneration.

Ayliffe, who helped form the Central Rankin Park Landcare group in 1995, said she was stunned by the recognition after years spent restoring the Blue Wren Creek corridor.

“I never thought I would be good enough for the top award,” she said.

She said the creek was badly degraded when the group started, with virtually no native vegetation and collapsing banks, and the work since then had been driven by a love of nature and the social connections formed on site.

“I love seeing the trees waving majestically in the breeze and hearing the many varieties of birds that use those trees,” Ayliffe said.

“I love the moths and butterflies and dragonflies too,” she said, adding that “morning tea discussion is always very lively”.

Ayliffe said the group’s efforts over 30 years included restoring a viable riparian zone along the creek and planting more than 16,000 native plants, alongside volunteer contributions she estimated had delivered “value to the area approaching $1 million”.

“We’re fortunate to enjoy a peaceful and relaxing place that now hosts 37 species of birds, eight species of reptiles, at least four species of frogs and numerous brush-tailed and ring-tailed possums, as well as sugar gliders,” she said.

A recent partnership with Cambridge Hills Preschool was one of the highlights, with educators and children visiting a park alongside the creek regularly as part of their weekly routine, and the preschool seeking advice on forming its own Landcare group.

“Environmental learning is integrated into the Early Years Learning Framework and I’d love for there to be a relationship like this with preschools and Landcare groups right across Lake Macquarie,” Ayliffe said.

Lake Macquarie Mayor Adam Shultz congratulated Ayliffe and the other 2025 recipients, saying Landcare volunteers played a key role in caring for public spaces across the city.

“In 2025, more than 600 Landcare volunteers contributed 10,400 hours of their time, removing nine hectares of weeds and sowing more than 2300 plants at sites across our city,” Shultz said.