In December 2015 the Northern Tablelands Local Land Services announced funding for four Small Community Grants to be facilitated by Southern New England Landcare during 2016.

The Armidale Urban Rivercare Group has $4,000, to run a community awareness day and establish another creek side planting east of Taylor Street in Armidale.  These activities continue the Group’s long term project to restore riparian vegetation along Armidale’s Dumaresq Creek.

The Uralla Rivercare Group will revise their plans for Uralla and Rocky River Creeks with their $5,000. They will be working together with scientists and the local community to plan for future riparian works.

Two bus trips will be run by Southern New England Landcare and InSight Ecology, using a $5,000 grant, to showcase and build landholder capacity to design, implement and manage native revegetation for woodland birds.  Tours to local properties will showcase established re-vegetation and managed woodlands which provide viable ecological services (as indicated by the birds present) to surrounding land.

A ‘Horses for Courses’ workshop on sustainable management for grazing horses on small acreages will utilise a grant of $3,800. This workshop will target residents of peri-urban areas of Armidale, Uralla, Guyra and Walcha. The workshop will run on a Saturday towards the end of 2016, most likely in October or early November. Watch this space for more details to come.