Did you know that the Tarcutta Landcare Group have been active in the community for over 25 years? In that time they have completed more than 40 major environmental projects on both privately and publicly owned land - now, that is a real achievement! I know that much of this work is often done unnoticed or forgotten, but the work done by landcarers has made a real difference to the landscape that we live and work in today. Recently, the activities of Landcare in the Tarcutta area have been sustained by the efforts of an active but reduced number of individuals as part of Murrumbidgee Landcare’s Cross Property Planning Project, facilitated by Nicole Maher and Jacinta Christie. This project is on track to finish in June 2017.

In recent years, the Tarcutta Landcare Group have been relatively inactive, in part due to lack of support from a Landcare Coordinator and in part due to fatigue of long-serving committee members. At a Landcare meeting held on 17th February a motion was moved to notify the community that the Tarcutta Valley Landcare Group would fold at their Annual General Meeting (AGM) on the 15th June, unless the group received committed support and office bearers.

Maddy Gorham had just started as the new local Landcare Coordinator at the time this motion was moved and set her mind towards reviving the group. Maddy attended several community meetings hosted by Riverina Local Land Services and the Cross Property Planning project and presented to community members about the state of the Tarcutta Landcare Group and called for expressions of interest for office bearers. Maddy said that “key members of the community rallied together to spread the word that the group was folding and successfully encouraged community members to step forward to form a new committee”. This proved to be successful, with many people volunteering to take on an office bearer or committee member role.

20 people attended the AGM on 15th June at the Humula club. At the AGM, a new executive was successfully appointed, with a surge of excitement for the prospect of future workshops and on-ground works. The new chair, Julia Ham, lead a discussion on what people wanted from the newly formed Landcare group and facilitated a discussion of ideas for future activities. A number of ideas were discussed including learning the basics of beekeeping, native plant harvesting and seed collection and more workshops that involve schools.

The new committee are:

Chair: Julia Ham

Vice-Chair: Ainsley Wolter

Secretary: John Jervois

Treasurer: Nicole Sykes

Since the AGM, the committee have already set to work and conducted a beekeeping basics workshop which saw 67 attendees and 29 new members. Future activities for 2016 include a Humula Public School Tree Planting Day; Courabyra Wine Production demonstration day; Think tank for on-ground activities and Beekeeping Basics (Practical session) with Doug Purdie. Maddy would like to applaud the Landcare group’s achievements to date, and is excited to help members plan for future on-ground works. Please contact her at mgorham@mli.org.au or 0429 458 717 if you would like to be involved in the Tarcutta Landcare Group.

Written by Maddy Gorham (Local Landcare Coordinator Mid-Murrumbidgee)

Edited by Kimberley Beattie (Riverina Regional Landcare Facilitator)