Hovells Creek Landcare Group Inc
Hovells Creek Landcare is a family-farm based, not for profit community group located in the central west region of New South Wales Australia, approximately 40 km to the south east of the regional town of Cowra and approximately 100km to the west of Sydney. The properties on which the members of the Hovells Creek Landcare Group live and work are generally bounded by the Lachlan River and Wyangala Dam to the north and east, the Boorowa River catchment to the west and the Reids Flat road to the south. The epicentre of the group membership and project area is the roughly the intersection of Frogmore Road and Bennett Springs Road at Hovells Creek.
https://landcare.nsw.gov.au/groups/hovells-creek-landcare-group-inc
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Hovells Creek Landcare is a family-farm based, not for profit community group located in the central west region of New South Wales Australia, approximately 40 km to the south east of the regional town of Cowra and approximately 100km to the west of Sydney. The properties on which the members of the Hovells Creek Landcare Group live and work are generally bounded by the Lachlan River and Wyangala Dam to the north and east, the Boorowa River catchment to the west and the Reids Flat road to the south. The epicentre of the group membership and project area is the roughly the intersection of Frogmore Road and Bennett Springs Road at Hovells Creek.
Activities:
Members have fenced 29 km of waterway, fenced 130 ha of remnant vegetation (to exclude domestic livestock) and planted 56,800 native trees / shrubs since 1996. We developed a regional biodiversity and conservation management plan in 2018 as part of our support for the Great Eastern Ranges (habitat for migratory birds) Initiative and a we have a Strategic Plan that summarises our objectives and priorities for the next three years. We meet bi-monthly and organise regular expert guest speakers, on-property field days (for 20 – 50 participants) and regional visits for members and associates. Our members have undertaken property mapping, NSW DPI facilitated Landscan, Prograze, Paddock Plants and LCMA facilitated Holistic Management, Pasture Cropping and Cell Grazing training programs. The Group has successfully managed grants from the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Meat and Livestock Australia, the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal with Stockland Care Foundation, NRMA, the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative with the Foundation for National Parks, two NSW Environmental Trust grants, three National Heritage Trust grants, four Community Action Grants, five grants from South East and Central Tablelands Local Land Services and has coordinated several LCMA funded projects on member properties and public land.
Current projects:
- Erosion control works on farms, proudly funded by the NSW Environmental Trust and Murray Darling Healthy Rivers and in collaboration with Local Land Services, Soil Conservation Service and Hilltops Council
- Drought forewarning, funded by the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund
- Improving connectivity and habitat for the Superb Parrot, funded under the NSW Department of Environment and Planning's Saving Our Species program
- Aboriginal awareness and site recording workshop, funded under the LNSW small grants program
Projects
Steve Austin, who once headed a federal quarantine operation and has used his dogs in ‘Search and Rescue’, is helping properties in the Hovells Creek Landcare Group, near Cowra, NSW, control a feral cat problem.
Hovells Creek Landcare have mapped a strategic plan to connect 60,000 hectares of their group's land through paddock trees, stepping stone clusters, treelines and remnant vegetation.
Download group KML
