News
Site News
John Betts Award won by Elizabeth Goodfellow from Bowning-Bookham Landcare
Elizabeth Goodfellow is the 2018-19 winner of the Yass Area Network John Betts Award. The John Betts Award which was established in 2007 in memory of local Landcare legend John Betts and recognises outstanding service to Landcare. Elizabeth is the first member from Bowning-Bookham Landcare to win this award.
Managing our farm dams to maximise livestock performance and maintain biodiversity
The ongoing hot and dry conditions are extremely challenging for our farmers, farms, livestock and biodiversity. In these times we are reminded of how important natural assets on farms are, not only for production but also for biodiversity, whether they are scattered paddock trees providing shade or shelterbelts slowing the wind and providing refuge for wildlife. These assets also includes natural water assets such as farm dams and creek lines. While water is in short supply across much of this region, it is essential that the little water we do have is managed well to maximise livestock performance and to maintain our biodiversity.
A short introductory video to Dandarrga Native Nursery
Community, Landcare Nursery, Rainforest Propagation, Dorrigo Seed Savers
Linda Thane announced Bowning-Bookham Landcarer of the Year
Linda Thane is the 2018-19 Yass Area Network Landcarer of the year for the Bowning-Bookham Districts Landcare Group. Linda is a keen supporter of regenerative agriculture, innovative practices and participates in robust debates - always encouraging landholders to have a go at tree planting and to learn more about the local environment.
Worrying Weeds of Wamboin: Topped Lavender (Lavandula stoechas)
The first in a series. Residents of Wamboin are (or as land managers should be) aware of the listed invasive species that impact natural ecosystems and “productive” areas in our region. Land managers have a responsibility to manage the species listed on local weed listings. However, there are a growing number of other potentially invasive species that are not listed, but which have the capacity over time to become as troublesome and damaging as the officially listed species. Gearys Gap/Wamboin Landcare Group will publish occasional short articles on the rising number of these species.
Sutton Landcare Volunteer for 2018
At a twilight end of year celebration hosted at Jane and David Vincent’s property at least thirty members of the Sutton Landcare Group celebrated the announcement that Christine Pahlman was the groups Yass Area Network Landcarer Volunteer for 2018.
Seed for the future
The Yass Area Network of Landcare Groups won a Yass Council Community Grant to progress community networks and knowledge in the collection, cleaning, storage and sowing of local seed for the future. This grant is managed by a team of Landcare volunteers who operate native plant nurseries in Murrumbateman, Yass and Bowning-Bookham. We are now looking for properties in the Yass Region with good seed bank potential to get involved. For example we are looking for stands of the same plant eg 7-10 Eucalyptus blakelyi (Blakely’s redgum) preferably with accessible limbs to collect seed. In relation to wattles if a landholder has for example 10 plus Golden Wattles on their property which are seeding Kath McGuirk from Yass Area Network of Landcare Groups is keen to hear from you to discuss if ripe seed can be collected. All locally collected seed would be sown in one of the three regional Landcare nurseries. Native seed from wattles or and understory plants, Eucalyptus trees which include Box, Stringy Bark, Ribbon Gum, Gum etc native forbes or waterway rushes are example of the plant groups that local seed is being sought.
2018 Landcare Champions
The Yass Area Network Landcare awards for 2018 have commenced with the first group award presented to Jan Grubb the long standing, diligent and enthusiastic secretary of the Yass Landcare Group.
2018 NATIONAL LANDCARE CONFERENCE “Building a better tomorrow”
This is a report about the 2018 National Landcare Conference that was prepared by committee member John Dalton who attended the National Landcare Conference in the place of our coordinator Marita Sydes who was unable to make the conference.
Calling all Citizen Scientists
With the weather warming up and longer days, now is the perfect time to get out of the house and enjoy Australia’s great outdoors. And what better way to do it than by joining one of the citizen science events that are taking place this Spring. Not only will you be out enjoying nature, but you’ll be making a valuable contribution to Australia’s biodiversity knowledge as well.
Bookham native plant identification and training
A workshop on native seeds and plant identification was held in Bookham.
Newsletter - Spring 2018
Reports from the President and Executive Officer, NRMP Review, updates from EWAG, SAP, OEH, SDL Projects and many more.
'They are "natives", so they are OK! Weedy wattles in Canberra'
Sarah Sharp & Geoff Butler have drawn attention to the fact that the ACT, as do the other Australian states and territories, has a formal list of Declared Pest Plants. They point out, however, that '...there are many other introduced "weeds" that occur in the ACT. While most of these species originate from other countries, there are some Australian wattle species alien to the ACT that have become naturalised (an exotic or non-local native plant that can reproduce and sustain itself without human assistance)'. This article lists and evaluates the status of these 'weedy wattles', and draws attention to how they should be managed. This is an important and potentially challenging issue for Landcare groups: should we propagate and plant only species indigenous to our local areas, or is it OK to plant species native to other parts of Australia? Are some of the latter species, by definition, weeds, and should be managed as such?
The 2018 Arthursleigh Tree Planting Weekend - 15-16th September, 2018
Yearly tree planting at Arthursleigh farm a sucess!
Lessons learnt on how to plan for dry times. By David Marsh, Boorowa grazier.
How planning livestock grazing can improve biomass production and empower managers to make more comfortable decisions in dry times.Monitoring pasture growth rates and planning stock reductions, matches stocking rate to carrying capacity. This strategy avoids feeding costs and early sales can stimulate cash flow.
Bowning-Bookham Landcare conversation with Steven Crimp
Steven Crimp gave a presentation in June 2018 about responding to the impacts of the changing climate on our local area and we discussed how to improve the resilience of our farms.
July e-news Goulburn/Mulwaree Landcare
Hello Landcarers and friends and welcome to the July edition of the Goulburn/ Mulwaree Landcare Community e-news. In July we celebrate National Tree Day, Australia's largest tree-planting and nature care event. There are Tree Day events coming up in and around Goulburn through schools, Landcare and Council. It’s a great opportunity for you to do something positive for your community and the environment and to connect with nature. Planting trees with school groups, family and community is very rewarding and benefits can be seen in a relatively short time. It is, however, important to not only focus on the planting of new trees but to acknowledge and preserve what we already have, in particular our old paddock trees which we are losing at an alarming rate.
Launch of Kreative Koalas in Goulburn
7 primary schools from the Southern Tablelands Region including Tallong P.S, Braidwood P.S, West Goulburn P.S, Breadalbane P.S, Young P.S and Mt Carmel in Yass and Tambelin Independent School, have signed up to participate in the Kreative Koalas Schools program. Teachers from the schools attended a launch event on the 21st June at Workspace 2580 in Goulburn to hear all about the program from Head Koala, Lynne Strong and the Kreative Koala team, Simon Tedder from Office of Environment and Heritage, Giselle Newbury from Southern Tablelands Arts and Mary Bonet from LachLandcare.
Latest e-news letter from Yass Landcare Region
Welcome to the July e-news letter. In July we celebrate National Tree Day and I am reminded of the inspiring wisdom found in this old Chinese proverb: The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. For those of us in the Yass region, we are fortunate that many of our Landcarers did get started 20 or more years ago. However, for the rest of us, now is a great time with many opportunities available. Landcare has been successful in obtaining funding through the NSW Environmental Trust and NSW Saving our Species program. Yass Habitat Linkages, Burrinjuck to Bango Habitat Hops and the newly announced Saving our Superb Parrot focus on protecting, restoring and linking habitat. There is also opportunity for riparian restoration to improve our waterways through the Rivers of Carbon- Yass River Linkages program. Landholders can apply for funding from small individual paddock trees right up to large whole of paddock restoration works. For those just starting out, the Murrumbateman Landcare group held a workshop on July 5, titled Planning for Planting, which guided landholders on what and where to plant. Locally, we have three community nurseries that are able to supply local provenance tubestock for these restoration projects and for anyone interested in purchasing native tree and shrubs. And for those who just want to get out and get planting, National Tree Day is coming up and we are having a volunteer tree planting day along the Yass River- Details about this and more below in the newsletter.
Newsletter - Winter 2018
AGM 8 August 2018, update from EWAG, NSWIC, OEH, SAP, Murray LLS Billabong Yanco Project.
Successful Climate Change Forum held at Yass
It was standing room only at a forum entitled ‘Join the Climate Conversation – Rural Communities making a difference’ held on May 25th, 2018 at Yass in Southern NSW. Organisers were thrilled with the public interest. Right from the outset they knew they were addressing a topic concerning a quiet majority of people, who wanted to know how they could help to constrain global warming. Ticket sales were strong and organisers were taken by surprise as attendance topped 220 at the Yass Memorial Hall. The event was attended by local landholders and members of the public with an interest in rural land management and climate issues.
