Both Cashin House and Lim Chu Kang Nature Park have never been open to the public until now. However, access will only be through sign-ups for programmes.
They include guided heritage walks, tree planting and helping to conduct scientific surveys at the nature park, which is currently undergoing habitat restoration.
COMMUNITY EFFORT
“When you want to restore or enhance a habitat, the most important thing is to do baseline surveys,” said NParks’ group director of conservation Lim Liang Jim.
“(We) need people to be on the ground, to monitor and note down what are the plants, and what are the animals there.”
Mr Lim said volunteering has been at the heart of the area’s conservation in the past three decades, and hopes that this sense of community stewardship will endure.
Mr Bernard Seah, chairman of volunteer group Friends of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, said it is important for visitors to know how to behave in nature so as to protect the ecosystem.
“I hope that (we) can bring the experience of visiting our nature park network to a new level of understanding, coexisting, and most importantly, knowing what to do, what not to do, when you are in the reserve,” he said.