Cath is co-ordinating orders, deliveries, preparing plant species list, tubestock orders for re-vegetation, tanks, troughs, fencing to exclude livestock from the project sites enabling for successful remediation, she liaises and works with participating landholders to ensure the project is positive and a beneficial experience.

Cath says: “I love the Araluen community and I love this kind of work, being part of such a dedicated group and a very worthy environmental project. We have a lot of damage to fix in the creek and the 13 sites set for remediation will secure positive outcomes for the environment, water users and landholders in the lower catchment. 

Since the 2019-2020 Black Summer Fires we are up to flood number 14 and 1,000mm of rainfall already this year.  So, it’s critical for our community to pull together, identify the problems and do the work, just like we are now and attract further funding to enable us to continue into the future.”

Cath is also an ‘unofficial’ historian and documenter for the project, often found on site taking lots of photos: tanks being delivered, before and after photos of erosion control measures, workshops.  Cath has been a member of the Upper Deua Catchment Landcare Group since its inception in 1996. She is custodian of many photos of the rich history of this Landcare Group and the valley.

Cath says: “fixing only one section of the creek is a band-aid. We need to unite and do the whole creek, from the top of the escarpment down to the Araluen Creeks confluence with the Deua River. It’s a massive job to fix the damage after being dry for so long, then being burnt followed by numerous flooding events. Our poor old valley has been through the wars in the last couple of years. It’s up to us now to try and fix it.”