The Upper Shoalhaven Landcare Council (USLC) is the district network or umbrella group for all Landcare groups and members in the Upper Shoalhaven, Upper Deua and Lake George Catchment areas. Since its founding in 1995, USLC has focused on supporting Landcarers, as well as engaging and enhancing local communities to build and maintain landscapes with sustainable productivity alongside resilient biodiversity.
About Us:
USLC helps transform the landscape, enabling farmers, landowners, conservationists and other agencies to work together at a local level on local issues. We hold regular workshops, field days and other events packed with information relevant to caring for our soils, plants and wildlife, as well as restoring degraded land. Our goal is to protect the environment so it can sustain future generations, as well as the people involved in making it happen.
We are part of the South East Landcare region and our networks extends across much of Queanbeyan-Palerang Council area. From Bungendore to Araluen, Snowball to Windellama, over the years we've worked to support many Landcare groups. At present, there are several groups in our district at varying levels of activity. These include:
- Bombay
- Braidwood Rural
- Braidwood Urban
- Bungendore
- Bungonia Park Land Managers
- Mongarlowe and Friends of Mongarlowe River
- Sheep Station Creek
- Snowball
- Sustainable Braidwood
- Tarago
- Taylors Creek
- Upper Deua Catchment
- Upper Shoalhaven
- Windellama
We currently host a Local Landcare Coordinator, Erin Brinkley, under the NSW Landcare Enabling Program 2023-2027. She works 0.5 FTE or 2.5 days a week, typically on Thursdays and Fridays. You can contact the Local Coordinator at upper.shoalhaven@gmail.com or call 0473 407 079.
Our Coordinator will be on leave from 21 December 2024 until the last week in January 2025 and won't be checking emails during this time.
Photo right: Upper Shoalhaven Local Landcare Coordinator Erin Brinkley taken by A Wilson
Upper Shoalhaven Landcare Council's
Vision: Healthy Landscapes, Engaged Communities
Mission: To inspire and support our region to have a resilient, productive and sustainable relationship with our environment.
Values: Diversity, Respect, Stewardship, Community
- In all our endeavours we value diversity. The diversity of our community, land uses, and the environment.
- Respect plays an important role in our relations with people, as well as our appreciation of the land.
- We embrace our commitment to the environment and celebrate our achievements.
- Run by the community for the community. We wish to involve all and expand our collective understanding of caring.
Our Priorities:
- Encourage, educate and support our region in finding a respectful balance with our local environment
- Increase landscape and wildlife resilience through changing times
- Improve sustainability of our natural resources for enjoyment and use by future generations
- Inspire community engagement to achieve positive environmental outcomes
- Get plants into hands and into the ground
Membership*:
While we encourage membership to your nearest local Landcare group, if you'd like to consider membership with the district network or Upper Shoalhaven Landcare Council, there are seven options available. This includes sign ups for membership with our subcommittees - Bombay, Braidwood Rural and Sustainable Braidwood Landcare - with price options listed below:
- 1 Year Individual Membership - $7.00
- 3 Year Individual Membership - $21.00
- 1 Year Farm / Family Membership - $12.00
- 3 Year Farm / Family Membership - $36.00
- Bombay Landcare Group 1 Year Farm / Family Membership - $10.00
- Braidwood Rural Landcare 3 Year Farm / Family Membership - $36.00
- Sustainable Braidwood 3 Year Individual Membership - $5.00
*Our online membership platform is temporarily unavailable while we upgrade the platform. We hope it will come back online by the end of January 2025 and hope the disruption to join or renew your membership won't be inconvenient over the holidays.
All members are automatically subscribed to our Upper Shoalhaven Newsletter mailing list, are covered under our insurance policy at any the Landcare events and activities we host, priority access to the Upper Shoalhaven field day equipment and tool kits and support from the Local Landcare Coordinator.