Bungowannah / Splitters Creek Landcare Group is a small locally focused landcare group on the peri-urban fringe of Albury NSW. Our residents include large-scale agriculture with full-time farmers, bespoke / niche businesses as well as commuters to Albury, tree-changers and hobby farmers.
Situated on the western fringe of Albury, our main agriculture systems are beef and sheep grazing, boutique viticulture and some dairy. Our group is incorporated, focuses on small local project and is 100% volunteer run.
We actively participate in landscape scale projects and 'hot topic' events with other landcare organisations like Holbrook Landcare Network, Parklands Albury Wodonga, Woolshed Thurgoona Landcare Group and Petaurus Education Group Inc. We also work closely with AlburyCity, Murray Local Land Services, the DPIE Saving Our Species team and our Rural Fire Service.
Some key achievements include monitoring of ground water levels for 19 years via bores and piezometers, publishing the Bretton Catchment Plan and the Splitters Creek Catchment Plan and ongoing revegetation and weed management. In recent years the focus of the group has broadened to include urban sustainability initiatives such as:
- monthly produce swap at the community centre
- garden walks (including topics such as wildlife habitat, sustainability, planning for bushfires & flooding)
- community information days (including Pindone training, weed identification, local biodiversity awareness and habitat)
- Little Landcare school holidays events (nature inspired art & craft workshops, excursions to Wonga Wetlands and Wirraminna Environmental Education Centre, nature-play)
- Squirrel glider nest box program on member properties with regular monitoring
- maintaining the gains from Green Army projects focusing on weeds and rabbits
- community planting days and native plant give-aways
- Feral animal focus - rabbit eradication programs, feral goat trapping and deer awareness projects
- new resident 'welcome packs'
- habitat connectivity revegetation projects and
- active social media engagement
- landcare meetings
Within our area we have the following native species classified by the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.
- Squirrel glider (Petaurus norfolcensis) vulnerable
- Brown Treecreeper (Climacteris picumnus victoriae) vulnerable
- Sloane's froglet (Crinia sloanei) endangered
- Barking owl (Ninox connivens) vulnerable
- Pied Honeyeater (Certhionyx variegatus) vulnerable
- Pink-tailed Legless Lizard (Aprasia parapulchella) vulnerable
- Crimson Spider Orchid (Caladenia concolor) vulnerable
Other special species in our catchment
- Diamond firetail
- Speckled Warbler
- Turquoise Parrot
- Hooded Robin
- Inland Carpet python (uncommon)
- Woolly Ragwort
- Bibron’s Toadlet, Smooth Toadlet and the Wrinkled Toadlet
Native vegetation communities
- White Box - Yellow Box - Blakely’s Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland Critically Endangered Ecological Community
- Inland Grey Box
- Grey Stringy bark
- Mugga Ironbark (Eucalyptus sideroxylon) only known stand of remnant Ironbark trees in the entire (NSW and Victorian) Murray catchment.
Projects
This plan is a guiding document to help shape decisions for resource management and community activity in the Splitters Creek area. Originally published in 2011, it is a living document and changes will inevitably be made over time as priorities and issues shift. In addition, new research findings and resource data may throw light on some issues leading to a change in the document being required.
The Squirrel Glider is listed as vulnerable under the NSW Threatened Species Act 1995. The Splitters Creek Catchment Management Plan (2011) identified that the Squirrel Glider, a species known to be present in our area, required programs and public awareness to ensure a suitable habitat and landholder management to ensure its survival.