What a breath of fresh environmental air was Bec Levy as our guest last meeting.

As Victor wrote...

The club welcomed Rebecca Levy, recently appointed Manager of The Briar’s to talk about her  vision for developing The Briar’s as a major tourist attraction on the Mornington Peninsula.

Prior to taking up this position Bec had been very much involved with animals & people.

What started with a Bachelor of Science (Zoology) quickly had her working at Healesville Sanctuary, RSPCA, Werribee Zoo, the Cranbourne Botanical Gardens and Melbourne Zoo as its Interpretation Manager.

In all, an interesting background to help take The Briars on to the next level. Development of a Master Plan is high priority to not only make the area more children and user friendly, but to expand the bushland spaces and give greater prominence to the much favoured walking tracks. This in turn should bring back more of the endangered species into the area.

All this and to sympathetically build on the current visitor level of around 180,000 people p.a..In the process serious consideration needs be given to the Heritage aspect of the space.

Beck thanked our club for past support and invited members to re-visit the Briars.

We wish her great success and enjoyment as she strives to achieve these goals for the benefit of the Peninsula and greater Victoria.