High school students are planting trees on rainforest edges, removing rubbish from mangroves and surveying coral as part of a program that is turning visitors into ‘citizen scientists’ with a passion for our patch.

The Wet Tropics region is globally significant for its interconnected World Heritage areas – the Great Barrier Reef and ancient rainforests – but many students only come across these ecosystems in textbooks.

A Cairns-based educational tour company, Small World Journeys, is helping to bring textbook learnings to life.

Over 1540 students from nearly 50 schools are now travelling to the Wet Tropics each year. Many begin their journey high in rainforest catchments before heading out onto the Reef and experiencing first-hand how the region’s ecosystems are connected.

“Our programs are all about hands-on learning,” Small World Journeys’ Rachael MacLeod says.

“Students don’t just hear about conservation — they take part in it.”

On Fitzroy Island, off Cairns, teenagers are part of reef monitoring programs such as CoralWatch and on the outer Great Barrier Reef Eye on the Reef, recording sightings that are used by scientists.

“This is often the first time they are seeing coral up close,” Rachael says.

“Last year, our students made more than 6000 coral observations.

“By identifying corals and recording reef conditions, they help with datasets that researchers can use over time, and they learn why long-term monitoring matters.”

Along the way, students also begin to understand how tightly connected the region’s ecosystems are – seeing how they link together from mountain streams all the way to coral reefs.

The pressures facing tropical environments are also part of the program.

“We show students the impacts of human activity and what’s being done to address them.” Rachael says.

“We talk about things like Crown-of-thorns starfish and how they are a natural part of the Reef, but how large outbreaks are linked to poor water quality that is caused by human impacts.

“It’s really cool to see their faces when they start to understand the connections.”

Picnic Point School student Mariah Bizri, from Sydney, says she learnt she learnt so much from her trip to the Wet Tropics.

‘We saw how coral lives and reproduces, and the relationship between species in ecosystems, the effect of invasive and overpopulated species on the local environment, the human impacts on the environment, the role of indigenous people in maintaining and using the land, and the contemporary and traditional management strategies.”

These kinds of learnings are turning young visitors into stewards.

“Our students are actively contributing to solutions,” Rachael says.

“Last year they planted 1176 trees and removed many kilos of rubbish from mangroves.

“One of the key lessons they learn is that everyone can make a difference, even through simple daily actions like composting lunch leftovers and collecting soft plastic waste for re-use.

“Collectively, small individual actions can add up to positive change.”