Our very small group has members from the Mt Vincent, Brunkerville and Mulbring districts, which are lovely rural locations 15km southeast of Kurri Kurri and 18km west of Toronto in the Lower Hunter Valley region of NSW. It was formed in 1989 by residents as a Trees on Farms group and in 1991 it joined the Landcare movement.
Members mainly live on small acreages of grazing land and remnant bushland. Some properties have been farmed for nearly 200 years and many were in a much-degraded state in the 1980s. It had a history of commercial logging, weed infestation, soil erosion, compaction and degradation, and bell miner dieback.
Over 28 years members have planted thousands of native/ indigenous trees and shrubs creating wild life corridors and windbreaks and regenerating riparian areas. Later projects have been aimed at tackling weeds such as lantana and camphor laurel. The beautiful wooded vista that visitors now see as they come over The Gap into the Hunter Valley from Freemans Waterhole is one that its Landcarers have helped to create.
The group has some very experienced Landcarers and welcomes new members who are interested in the community and helping with ongoing projects no matter where they live. We especially appreciate newcomers who want to learn about caring for our beautiful valley.
Our meetings are held on the second Friday evening of every second even month i.e. February, April, June etc. Our next meeting for 2017 will be on Friday 13 October with our Christmas meeting around 8 December. Please contact us if you are interested in attending a meeting or coming to help on a field day.