A small number of participants including staff from Armidale Regional Council attended the Malpas Catchment Group (MCG) meeting on Wednesday December 8th 2021 at the Guyra Bowling & Recreation Club.
Image - Bron Cameron from 2ROG presenting an outline of the Armidale Regional Council's Catchment Water Quality Strategic Plan process as part of the gathering.
Southern New England Landcare will host a community gathering to celebrate United Nations International World Wetlands Day, at the Mother of Ducks Lagoon, Guyra, from 8am - 10am, Wednesday 2nd February 2022.
Image: Latham's Snipe gallinago hardwickii. Courtesy of ebird.
Friday, 10th December saw 66 community members attend the Guyra Bowling Club for a second workshop in a month focused on Chilean Needle Grass.
The workshops have been instigated by a group of landholders in the Black Mountain area, led by local landholder Kristy Youman.
Southern New England Landcare would like to wish all our wonderful members, friends, collaborators and supporters all the very best for a safe, healthy and happy Christmas!
Our office in Armidale will be closed for the Christmas period from Friday 24th December 2021. It will reopen for normal hours on Tuesday 11th January 2022.
Our staff return from annual leave on the following dates:
A TWO-DECADE campaign to restore Armidale’s Dumaresq Creeklands is about to move into its most ambitious phase yet, with Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall recently announcing a $290,030 State Government grant to regenerate a 450 metre long section of creeklands off Douglas Street.
Image - Announcing almost $300,000 in funding to restore another section of Armidale’s Dumaresq Creek, University of New England’s Dr Sarah Mika, Armidale Urban Rivercare Group member Dave Stellar, Chairman Bruce Whan, Bryan Johnston, Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall, volunteer Angus Adair, Southern New England Landcare’s Struan Ferguson and Armidale Regional Council General Manager James Roncon.
Twenty-eight community members gathered in Guyra on a very wet afternoon on Wednesday 1st December, to focus on a special place in our Northern Tablelands landscape.
Southern New England Landcare’s Executive Officer and the event organiser, Karen Zirkler said, “Mother of Ducks Lagoon is special because she is an upland wetland, underlain by peat, and depended upon by a myriad of native plants and animals – a rare kind of ecosystem indeed.”
Students and teachers at Kentucky Public School donned gum boots and gloves on Wednesday 24th November to plant stage one of a large native planting adjacent to the school grounds.
Image - second generation Harnham Landcare group member and past Kentucky Public School student Michael Taylor, with current student Charlie Zirkler, enjoying the wet planting conditions. Courtesy of Karen Zirkler.
Southern New England Landcare recently promoted the idea of forming a new Landcare Group around caring for Mother of Ducks Lagoon at Guyra. You can view the article here.
We are now happy to announce a date for a community gathering, lagoon side, with guest speakers and a sausage sizzle!
The 2021 annual Coordinators Choice Award has been announced as Dumaresq Landcare Group member Peter Metcalfe.
The announcement was made at the recent 2021 Annual General Meeting of the organisation.
The 2021 annual John Winter-Irving Bequest recipient has been announced as local Armidale Rivercare Group founding member, Mr Bruce Whan.
Southern New England Landcare has awarded the 2021 John Winter-Irving Bequest to Bruce Whan with congratulations for his long-term service to the Armidale community, and particularly Dumaresq Creek.
Sixteen Landcare, Rivercare and Interest group representatives gathered online at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 10th November 2021 for the 20th Annual General Meeting of Southern New England Landcare Ltd.
Due to Covid-19, the meeting was held online for the first time ever.
Re-elected President, Richard Daugherty said, "We were unsure how many would attend the AGM as an online meeting, given members usually love getting together to network in person, but it was a great success and ran very smoothly."
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting can be downloaded here.
At last week's Annual General Meeting, members of Southern New England Landcare ratified new membership subscription categories and prices, making memberships for Individuals free.
"There are now only two categories, Corporate and Individual, making the membership subscription process more streamlined and easier to understand," said Karen Zirkler, Executive Officer at Southern New England Landcare Ltd.
With so much water in our landscape this year, Southern New England Landcare has witnessed an unprecedented level of interest in Mother of Ducks Lagoon at Guyra.
The lagoon is full, and she hasn’t been this way in at least 15 years.
Images of Mother of Ducks Lagoon are being posted all over local Facebook pages, bearing witness to her beauty.
In accordance with the constitution of Southern New England Landcare Ltd, the following nominations have been received for consideration at the Annual General Meeting to be held at 7.30 pm on 10th November online:
Southern New England Landcare recently finalised delivery of a two-year National Landcare Program funded project that assisted 200 landholders in our region to adapt to the challenges being presented by climate change.
Southern New England Landcare will host an interactive webinar as part of the ongoing Northern Tablelands Koala Partnership Project on Friday 29th October.
The focus of the webinar is how to re-create koala habitat and provide practical guidance to participants.
“We will be letting landholders know about the opportunities to be involved in this project,” said Des Andersen, Koala Conservation Project Officer with Southern New England Landcare.
“Landholders are able to seek financial assistance to recreate Koala habitat on their properties and contribute significantly to helping Koalas survive in this area for the next 100 years,” he said.
“There are many benefits for rural landholders through creating koala habitat, including the biodiversity benefits for agriculture and for conservation goals” he said.
The webinar will cover known and practical methods to ensure participant’s revegetation or enhancement efforts are successful.
John Lemon, a local ecologist from JML Environmental Consultants, will speak on Koala feed trees and provide information on Koala dietary preferences, and the importance of providing a consistent vegetation community structure.
John says, “We’ve learnt a lot by researching Koalas on the Northern Tablelands in the last few years and look forward to passing on some of this knowledge to assist landholders in their planning and implementation of Koala habitat on their properties”.
The Annual General Meeting of Southern New England Landcare Ltd will be held at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 10th November 2021.
All members and friends are invited to attend and the meeting, which due to COVID restrictions, will be held online.
Please note there was a typo regarding the date in the 2021 AGM Business Papers sent to members last week, listing the day as Thursday 10th November. It should read WEDNESDAY 10th November. The link to the online meeting is contained in the top of the business papers and the link will open at 7.15 pm to assist anyone needing technical help.
Please RSVP your attendance to our office or phone 6772 9123 by Monday 8th November 2021. We look forward to seeing you there.
Southern New England Landcare is currently working with local film maker David Waugh of Verso Design to produce 2 short films, a landholder training film, and a community awareness film, to assist the public in identifying the Birds of Prey of interest and reporting sightings of them.
Watch out and report sightings of:
Little Eagle (Hieraaetus morphnoides),
Square-tailed Kite (Lophoictinia isura),
White-bellied Sea-Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) and,
Spotted Harrier (Circus assimilis)
These films, funded by the Northern Tablelands Local Lands Services, will become a useful resource for regional citizen scientists and allow landholders and the public to participate in the Northern Tablelands Local Lands Services and University of New England’s 2021/22 Birds of Prey Monitoring and Stewardship Project.
To report sightings contact: Euan Belson enquiry.northerntablelands@lls.nsw.gov.au 0408 623 839, Candice Larkin clarkin8@une.edu.au 0431 594 421 or Steve Debus sdebus@une.edu.au 0409 779 766
Image: Little Eagle, courtesy of David Waugh Verso Design
One of our most proactive, affiliated Landcare groups, ZNET Uralla, has just completed another project, "The Elephant in the Woodland". This was a three year project on sustainable firewood funded by NSW Environmental Trust.
Southern New England Landcare Ltd hereby notifies members of a change in company auditor. Due to the establishment of Roberts & Morrow Audit Services Pty Ltd as an Authorised Audit Company, Michelle Paull is seeking the permission of ASIC to resign as the auditor to the Company at the date that ASIC consent is received.
Do you have a project that could benefit from a grant? Would you neighbours like to particpate?
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