Understanding and restoring your land
Posted on 16 July, 2020 by Ivan
Connecting Country has been operating for over a decade now, and we don’t often have the time to reflect on what we’ve achieved and how we’ve assisted landholders and the community across the Mount Alexander region. We once had a large works crew, but now operate under a more nimble and streamlined model. We are still working hard to monitor our ecological assets, support Landcare, engage through education, and restore the landscape. Our work is often directed by our funding success, but we always aim to provide the latest information landowners and community members need to build their capacity to restore and manage land sustainably.
We often have funding available to assist landholders and other community members with their landscape restoration efforts. Unfortunately we don’t have such funding at present, due to funding cycles and a current lack of grants for environmental projects. However, we do have a wonderful Landscape Restoration Coordinator, Bonnie Humphreys, who is able to answer questions and enquiries from landowners about where to start with landscape restoration. Feel free to contact us via email (info@connectingcountrycountry.org.au) or phone (03 5472 1594) if you have any questions regarding where to start with landscape restoration or how to plan works on your property.
Connecting Country has restored 10,000 hectares of land in our region, which equates to around 6% of the Mount Alexander Shire (photo: Connecting Country)
Thankfully, we also have a brilliant website, with loads of information on understanding your landscape, soils, history and vegetation classification. Before starting any works on your property it is important to have a good understanding of your landscape.
Mapping
Obtaining some good aerial maps and property overlays is a key starting point. Mapping programs are available to help in identifying your soil types, land use, forest cover, vegetation classification and topography. These include:
- imap (North Central Catchment Management Authority)
- Mapshare (Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning)
- Google mapsPreview (opens in a new tab)
Connecting Country website resources
The following links provide resources to help you better understand your property:
Equipment
If you are interested in conducting some flora and fauna monitoring on your property, we can provide some equipment and information guides to assist. Connecting Country has the following equipment that can be borrowed by Landcare groups and other members for flora and fauna monitoring:
- Garmin Etrex 10 hand held GPS units – 7 available
- Motion- sensitive/infrared wildlife cameras (incl. camera, instructions, memory card and batteries) – 8 available
- Bushnell binoculars suitable for birdwatching – 6 available
- The Slater & Gordon Field Guide to Australian Birds – 6 available
- Soil pH test kit – 3 available
- Indigenous Plants of Castlemaine and Surrounds- multiple copies
- Local weed guides – multiple copies
To arrange pick please contact Jacqui via email (jacqui@connectingcountry.org.au) or phone (03 5472 1594).
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