eNews #27

• 14th December - AURG Working Bee & end of year get together (Armidale)
• 22nd December to 5th January - Office Christmas Closure
• 12th February - Highland Wetlands Field Day (Guyra)
• 18th February - Understanding Natural Capital (Uralla)
• 19th February - Understanding Natural Capital (Walcha)
• 25th February - Understanding Natural Capital (Armidale)
• 26th February - Understanding Natural Capital (Guyra)

As this is our final newsletter for 2025, we want to extend a heartfelt thank you to all our members for being part of Southern New England Landcare this year.

Whether you’ve liked or shared a post, read the eNews, dropped into the office, passed on useful information, or joined us at events and workshops, your involvement makes a real difference.

Your support helps guide our work and keeps our community connected.

We’re already looking forward to what 2026 will bring.

We’ll be starting the year with World Wetland Day events in early February and continuing our work with landholders as we explore the Natural Capital space together.

A few other activities to keep an eye out for in 2026 include:

Landchat showcases the achievements of our members and groups.

Members receive their full colour hard-copy in their letter box to read at their leisure.

You can download your copy from our website here.

This year, the Bandicoot Book Corner on the Junior Landcare website has been inspiring young readers to explore, discover, and care for nature — one story at a time!

From backyard biodiversity to beach adventures, the corner is packed with carefully selected children’s books that bring environmental learning to life.

One festive favourite is Little Bilby’s Aussie Bush Christmas, a delightful tale that combines fun, adventure, and Australian wildlife with a heartwarming Christmas story.

Walcha Council is inviting community groups across the LGA to complete a short survey to help co-design a framework for managing spontaneous volunteers during disasters.

Why this work is important:

When people arrive to help but aren’t part of an established group, it’s useful to have simple, safe processes in place for registering, briefing and supporting them.

The framework will help ensure these volunteers can work effectively alongside emergency services and local groups.

 What Council is asking:

• One response per group (preferably from a committee member or leader). Survey link can be found here
• Please complete the survey as soon as possible, it takes approximately 10–15 minutes

The National Agricultural Land Management Survey 2025 is underway!

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) national agricultural land management survey helps identify farming trends, knowledge and networks, and their impacts on sustainability and productivity.

Find out more here. 

Armidale Biodiversity Strategy Community Survey closes 14th December 2025

Armidale Regional Council is developing a Biodiversity Strategy to protect and enhance biodiversity across the local government area (Armidale, Guyra, Ben Lommond, Black Mountain, Ebor, Hillgrove and Wollomombi) while our towns and communities grow.

Biodiversity is the variety of plants, animals and ecosystems and it provides us with many benefits.

It supports clean air and water, helps control pests and diseases, stores carbon, and contributes to our health, wellbeing and the local character.

We want to hear from the people that live and work here so that we can harness local knowledge and values to make the Strategy useful and effective.

Gordon Williams volunteered this article for SNEL just prior to the height of the 2019 drought regarding his experience over the years around managing ‘Eastlake’ proactively to navigate drought conditions.

The nation’s premier on-farm event, Wilmot Field Day explores what’s possible at the intersection of productive agriculture, nature repair and decarbonisation.

Step through the gates to join a growing community of primary producers and supply chain partners for thought-provoking discussion, practical demonstrations and presentations from world leading speakers.

Discover how nature-positive farming is good for the environment, good for business and good for the community.

Delve into practical solutions for farm productivity, resilience and ecological health.

Share opportunities to accelerate Australian agriculture and your business as you connect with others across the sector.

Date: 4-5 March, 2026

Location: Wilmot Farm, 10544 Armidale Rd, Hernani NSW

For more information see the WFD website.

Puchase your ticket here via Humanitix