Our First Birthday celebrations recognised the hard work of members and the executive committee; our partnerships with organisations such as Stepping Stones, NPWS, UHWA, HCCREMS and Muswellbrook Shire Council, and our funding partnership with the Jaramas Foundation and Landcare Australia. As usual for our events, a lovely meal was enjoyed by all, followed by a celebratory cake decorated with our Landcare logo. The evening concluded with a repeat performance of footage of our local flora and fauna, collated and presented by Trevor Woolley and Adam Sykes, with a special appearance by Larry Lyrebird.

Our main focus is on controlling weeds and we have made a great start, with our first funded project now underway. We aim to eradicate the weeds Coolatai Grass and St John’s Wort in our Group’s area, which covers the catchment area for Martindale Creek and includes Martindale, Horseshoe and part of Bureen.

Coolatai Grass is increasing its range across the region, and infestations can be seen along Denman Rd, Rosemount Rd, Yarrawa and the far end of Bureen. There are small patches along Martindale and Turnerman’s Roads and these are now mapped and marked with signposts. Mapping was undertaken by MCCL and Muswellbrook Shire Council working together. These orange posts have been installed by Muswellbrook Shire Council, with the aid of HCCREMS. They indicate a significant roadside weed incursion, in our case Coolatai Grass. These signs are the first stage of our control measures, and mark the infestations for Council’s Works staff to know where they are and therefore undertake appropriate measures when conducting road maintenance. MCCL will now begin weed control on these patches, either chemical application or hand removal. We have purchased a 95L spot sprayer from Denman Engineering for use with this and future projects. The project is funded for three years by the Jaramas Foundation, facilitated by Landcare Australia.

Our community workshops and field days are open to all to attend. If you missed out on seeing Larry Lyrebird, keep an eye out for our future events, who knows what will appear in the future!