Clarkson Community High School Learning Centre has a Bush Rangers cadet unit, which is part of Cadets WA and the Department of Environment and Conservation.

The objective of Bush Rangers is to provide young Western Australians with the opportunity to participate actively in conservation projects and a variety of self-reliance, teamwork and initiative training activities, while at secondary school.

The Bush Rangers Program promotes the following values: environmental responsibility; the pursuit of knowledge and achievement of potential; self acceptance and self respect; respect and concern for others and their rights; and social and civic responsibility.

The group has been involved in a number of activities this year, including: a visit to Tamala Park to learn about the impact of landfill; a visit to Yanchep National Park where they helped with conservation projects, which in included weeding and planting and running the school recycling program. Students reuse paper to make scribble pads to reduce the schools paper usage and nurtured two worm farms. Students are using the worms to reduce green waste heading for landfill; providing care for three endangered Green Tree Frogs, who now live in a vivarium in the Learning Centre; and participating in the Kings Park Exhibition.

This year the theme was "Forests" and students painted pictures depicting the importance trees play in our environment. The art work was displayed in Kings Park during September.

The group also worked with the City of Wanneroo cleaning up Marmion Avenue, Yanchep, by collecting verge-side rubbish; adopted a local beach land, which included the care of the area from everything to rubbish collection to tree planting; participated in four school camps; attended a reptile excursion; started and maintained a school garden growing herbs and vegetables to use within the school; started composting the schools green waste to reduce waste produced by the school, and the students helped in the conservation of the local bushland by planting 200 trees at Mindarie beach track.

Photo: Clarkson students with some of the rubbish they collected along Marmion Avenue, Yanchep