ABOUT "FOOPS"
(friends of the organ pipes national park)
Friends of the Organ Pipes National Park (FOOPs) is proud to be Australia’s oldest Friends of a National Park group, and has been dedicated to the care of the Organ Pipes Park since 1972.
The Organ Pipes National Park is Melbourne's closest National Park, located just forty minutes north-west of the CBD. After European colonisation, much of the land within the park was used for farming, which devastated the natural environment and allowed invasive plants and pests to thrive.
OUR MISSION
At FOOPs our purpose is to restore the land within the Organ Pipes National Park as much as possible to its pre-European settlement condition. Learn more about our history and how we’ve contributed to restoring the park’s natural biodiversity here.
OUR WORK
We hold monthly volunteer Working Bees at the park on the fourth Saturday of each month.
Check out our next Working Bee dates here.
The work we do varies depending on the season and the needs of the park, and often involves:
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planting and maintaining native flora
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weeding and removing invasive plants like prickly pear and bridal veil
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removing litter
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monitoring wildlife
FOOPs is also involved in long-standing monitoring programs for Sugar Gliders and Microbats within the park.
We’re passionate about conserving the Western Plains ecosystem outside the Organ Pipes park, and lobby for further conservation efforts in the local area. We’re involved in the protection of other local reserves that provide habitat for significant flora and fauna, such as the St Albans Grassland Reserve and the Holden Flora Reserve. Every spring we conduct wildflower surveys in the National Park and neighbouring reserves such as the Evans Street Grassland and Diggers Rest Grassland Reserve.
We volunteer on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation, and our relationship with the Wurundjeri Council is deeply important to informing our work at the park and interactions with the landscape. We recently held a cultural awareness induction with the Wurundjeri Council to ensure all volunteers are aware of the history and cultural significance of the land prior to disturbing the ground during plantings, and we hope this is the first of many further inductions to come.
CELEBRATING 50 YEARS
In 2022, FOOPs celebrated our fiftieth year as a Friends group. We’re always looking for new members who are passionate about protecting the beautiful Western Plains ecosystem. You can learn more about joining FOOPs and sign up here. Even if you can’t join our Working Bees, you can still become a member of FOOPs and get involved in other ways - all are welcome!