A delightful visit with Ian & Shirley Norman Foundation

Posted on 8 August, 2022 by Frances

Connecting Country was delighted to host a visit from our financial supporters at the Ian & Shirley Norman Foundation. We love to connect with our funders but it is rare they come to visit, especially when they’ve come all the way from Newcastle (NSW)!

Tracy Norman (Founder and Chair) and Coralie Nichols (Chief Executive Officer) visited the Connecting Country office in Castlemaine on 28 July 2022. After a convivial coffee and overview of our organisation, we took Tracy and Coralie on a whirlwind tour to visit one of our dedicated landholders on their farm at Sutton Grange. This gave an opportunity to demonstrate some of Connecting Country’s previous work to protect remnant vegetation, and improve habitat with revegetation via direct seeding and tubestock planting. Many thanks to Marge and Ron for hosting our visit, sharing their lovely property with us, and giving such positive feedback about Connecting Country!

The Ian & Shirley Norman Foundation’s purpose is ‘To encourage and support organisations that are capable of responding to social and ecological opportunities and challenges.’ To learn more about their great work – click here.

We are most grateful for the Foundation’s support of our new ‘Regenerate before it’s too late’ project that will engage the community about the importance of large old trees and how to protect them. Over the next three years (2022-25) we will host a series of workshops and produce communication materials. We will also help local landholders with practical on-ground actions to protect their large old trees and ensure the next generation of large old trees across the landscape.

It was great to meet Tracy and Coralie and look forward to implementing our latest project across the next three years.