Free events to celebrate World Wetlands Day 2014
Posted on 28 January, 2014 by Connecting Country
The North Central CMA has organised four free events to celebrate World Wetlands Day (2 February) and to explore innovative agricultural practices.
1. Breakfast with the Birds (2 February 2014 at Hird Swamp, near Macorna North)
2. CANCELLED DUE TO EXTREME WEATHER – Bus tour exploring how to integrate wetland conservation with agriculture (2 February 2014 from Koondrook, Vic) – CANCELLED
3. 2014 Future Farming Expo (6 March 2014 in Maryborough, Vic)
4. On-Farm Composting Field Day (13 March 2014 in Yarrawalla, Vic)
2 March 2014 – Ian Lunt Talk in Newstead . . . Naturally
Posted on 24 January, 2014 by Connecting Country
If you’re already familiar with the work of popular ecologist and author Ian Lunt then you probably don’t need any further encouragement to attend this free talk at the Newstead Community Centre on Sunday 2nd March.
For those who haven’t come across him before, Ian is an Associate Professor in the School of Environmental Sciences at Charles Sturt University, Albury, and the author of popular online blog Vegetation Ecology for Southern Australia (http://ianluntecology.com). He has been described as “one of the best ecological storytellers going around” and has made appearances on ABC TV’s Catalyst and Landline programs to talk about his research. He’s also co-authored the book ‘Plains Wandering: Exploring the Grassy Plains of South-Eastern Australia’.
Ian will be presenting a talk titled “Natural regeneration in central Victoria: the biggest positive change for conservation in south-east Australia”. Regenerating bush on old farmland is a common sight around Newstead and other parts of the Mount Alexander Shire. Ian’s talk should give us an insight into why it’s happening and what the impact of it on the environment might be.
The talk will begin at 4:00pm and be followed by a BBQ dinner to celebrate the start of Connecting Country’s Improve Biodiversity on Your Property Education Program 2014, supported through funding from the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Future Biodiversity Fund.
This promises to be a really great event and we would love to have as many Connecting Country members and friends there as possible to enjoy it!
RSVPs are not essential, but are greatly preferred for catering purposes – max@connectingcountry.org.au, or phone 5472 1594
Cactus Warriors on YouTube
Posted on 10 January, 2014 by Connecting Country
The Tarrangower Cactus Control Committee (TCCC) have recently uploaded three new videos to their website (http://www.cactuswarriors.org). The videos are presented by TCCC president Ian Grenda and include information on how to identify Wheel Cactus plants, how to kill them, and the story of the TCCC project.
The videos and the website are part of the groups effort to make information on Wheel Cactus control centralised and easily accessible so that groups who want to control cactus in other parts of Australia (and the rest of the world) can learn from the experience of the TCCC.
Check out the videos at the Cactus Warrior website here, or on YouTube.
Ian talks about killing Cactus next to a list of videos showing how to grow them!
Need help with Weed Removal?
Posted on 8 January, 2014 by Connecting Country
Chiliean Needle-grass seed showing distinctive collar between seed and tail (awn).
An important part of the work of the Connecting Landscapes crew during 2013 was removing weeds from properties in the Mount Alexander region. An example has been the removal of patches of Serrated Tussock Grass and Chilean Needle-Grass found by the crew in the Sutton Grange area.
Whilst there are similar species of native spear grass, these two exotic grasses crowd out native plants and damage stock by burrowing their way into hides and even into the meat!
Connecting Landscapes has just employed a new work crew and is seeking expressions of interest from private landowners and Landcare groups who would like help with weed removal. Assistance is also available for tubestock planting and direct seeding of indigenous flora, the implementation of pest animal control and environmental fencing. Assistance can be in the form of labour from the works crew on properties and/or materials, for example posts and fencing wire.
Connecting Landscapes Work Crew: From left, Alex Schipperen, Kim Peric, Dianna Manser, Matt Stahl, and missing Matthew Sundblom.
This is all part of the Connecting Landscape project which is a ten year program designed to work with private landholders and Landcare Groups to create and enhance wildlife habitat connections between the large blocks of crown land forest that occur through the Mount Alexander Shire and immediate surrounds. There are 8 target zones: around parts of Sutton Grange, Harcourt, Muckleford, Guildford, Franklinford, Sandon, Elphinstone and Taradale. You can find out more about Connecting Landscapes here.
If this opportunity sounds like it might suit you, or to find out more, please contact Jarrod Coote or Bonnie Humphreys at Connecting Country on 5472 1594 or email: jarrod@connectingcountry.org.au
Latest edition of ‘chat’
Posted on 2 January, 2014 by Connecting Country
The December 2013 edition of the North Central CMA publication, ‘chat’, is now available. (Click here to download.) This edition includes articles on an update to the ‘Native Plant Guide App’ as well as information on funding opportunities, courses and resources.
Position Available – Community Engagement
Posted on 31 December, 2013 by Connecting Country
Connecting Country has a part-time 12-month position available for a suitable, enthusiastic and experienced person. The role primarily involves coordinating Connecting Country’s Community Engagement program for 2014. Many of you will have previously attended talks or field days from this program run by Connecting Country over the past 4 years.
Further details about the role, including the position description, key selection criteria and hours of work are available by clicking here.
Applications must be submitted by 1pm on Monday 20th January 2014.
Please pass this on to anyone who you think might be interested.
Mount Alexander Region Landcare E-news – December Edition
Posted on 20 December, 2013 by Connecting Country
The December edition of the Mount Alexander Landcare E-news is available. Click on the banner below to download the newsletter.
The Landcare E-news is short monthly update on Landcare-related news, information and events for the Mount Alexander Shire and surrounds. Previous editions of E-news are available from the Landcare page of the Connecting Country website (click here).
The newsletter is sent out by Connecting Country’s Local Landcare Facilitator, Max Schlachter. If you would like to be put on the recipient list, send Max an email: max@connectingcountry.org.au.
Weekly Summaries Now Available
Posted on 18 December, 2013 by Connecting Country
Hello Connecting Country blog subscribers,
Following the suggestions of some of our subscribers, there is now an option to receive a weekly summary email of the Connecting Country posts rather than receive them individually on the day that they are posted. The weekly summary will be sent out on Saturday morning at about 8am. The daily emails are now sent at 7am (rather than midnight, as was done previously).
For those that struggle to keep up with their email inbox, the weekly summary of Connecting Country’s posts may help make it more manageable. The downside to receiving the weekly update is that you may miss out on hearing about events or other opportunities until it’s too late to attend or register.
New blog subscribers, will receive an option to receive daily posts or weekly summaries when they are signing up.
For existing blog subscribers, you can change your subscription in the following manner:
- Click on ‘update subscription preferences’ at the bottom of a post email from Connecting Country (either an old or new email will work)
- Click the box which says that you’d like to receive weekly emails only.
New Newsletter on the Mosaic Burning Project
Posted on 17 December, 2013 by Connecting Country
The Box-Ironbark Experimental Mosaic Burning Project has published its 6th newsletter (click here). This issue includes information on their research methodology and the plant composition of their study plots. Future issues will contain detailed results of pre- and post-fire comparisons.
New edition of ‘chat’
Posted on 16 December, 2013 by Connecting Country
The November 2013 edition of the North Central CMA publication, ‘chat’, is now available. (Click here to download.) This month’s edition includes information on the South African Weed Orchid which is prevalent in our Shire this year, some terrific ‘snaps of the month’, and news about upcoming events, courses and resources.
Land Restoration Film in Progress
Posted on 4 December, 2013 by Connecting Country
The Ballarat Region Treegrowers (BRT) was formed in 1998 by a small group of farm forestry enthusiasts, and has since been promoting the benefits of integrating trees into the rural landscape for commercial and environmental benefits for landowners and the broader community. They are a local branch of Australian Forest Growers. The BRT has set up its own ‘biorich plantation’ based on the principles of integrating conservation and economic production (click here for more info).
The group is in the process of making a documentary film which will promote the return of native vegetation in rural areas through landholder-driven activities such as Landcare, agroforestry, biolinks and ‘sustainable’ farm management plans. They are interested in including Connecting Country as part of the doco, and we have been in discussions with them about this.
You can learn more about the film here. The site includes a video ‘promo’ featuring prominent environmental educator Rob Gell. They are also seeking donations to extend the length and quality of the film.
Find out about Mosaic Burning
Posted on 2 December, 2013 by Connecting Country
Deakin and LaTrobe Universities with support from DEPI and Parks Victoria are currently conducting a Box-Ironbark Mosaic Burning Project. In their fifth newsletter they describe the work being conducted to document forest structure and how it may change as a result of planned burns. The area focused on is the Heathcote-Rushworth Forest. For people interested issues related to planned burns this project and its documentation could be a valuable resource. Subscription details are included in the newsletter. Some comments on the project from a local perspective are featured in the Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests website.
New edition of ‘chat’
Posted on 23 November, 2013 by Connecting Country
The October 2013 edition of the North Central CMA publication, ‘chat’, is now available. (Click here to download.) This month’s edition includes articles on the spread of Bridal Creeper into the Kyneton Woodlands, the recent Landcare Camp Out on the Mount and the Cup Moth caterpillar.
2014 – BRIT Conservation and Land Management Course
Posted on 23 November, 2013 by Connecting Country
Do you want to make your passion your day job, and help the environment?
The Diploma in Conservation and Land Management provides students with the opportunity to undertake a blend of class room based study with participation in a range of industry projects and field trips as part of their training. Continue Reading »
24 Nov 2013 – Cactus Killing Field Day
Posted on 23 November, 2013 by Connecting Country
The next Wheel Cactus Community Field Day will be held next Sunday 24th November on a property near the corner of Watersons and Tarrengower School Roads, and will be well signposted from the corner of Watersons and Bridgewater-Maldon Roads.
The morning’s activities will begin at 10:30 am and end at approximately 12:30 pm with an enjoyable BBQ and friendly chat.
This is the last field day for the year and will be followed by the 2013 Tarrangower Cactus Control Group AGM. Everyone is welcome to stay for the meeting.
You can find out all about the Tarrangower Cactus Control Group Inc activities for this year on their website.
29 November 2013 – Landscape Restoration Bus Tour in Baynton
Posted on 14 November, 2013 by Connecting Country
On Friday 29th November, the Baynton Sidonia Landcare group and the Kyneton Woodland Project are offering a bus tour of three local properties to look at:
• indigenous vegetation restoration by direct seeding and tubestock planting
• how a little bit of fencing can make an enormous difference to what comes up once stock are removed
• plant ID (of indigenous vegetation)
• how to maintain areas of indigenous vegetation – dealing with weeds and the growth of grasses
They hope to hear from the landholders at each site about their motives in land restoration as well as from local vegetation guru Ian Higgins who is the Project Officer for the Kyneton Woodland Project.
The day will start at the Baynton Hall at 10 am with a talk by Ian about the principles of revegetation and restoration of indigenous vegetation. Ian is an inspirational speaker and his knowledge of vegetation is encyclopaedic.
After the talk, there will be a short bus ride to the first site which is on the Burke and Wills Track. Then a return to the Hall for one of Heather’s (of the Burke and Wills Track winery) excellent lunches and then a visit to sites at Barfold and Green Hill before the bus returns to the Hall at 3:30 pm.
Regretfully, the tour is not suitable for people of limited mobility. Not only is there the climbing on and off the bus, but there will also be walks of several hundred metres at each site over uneven, and at one site, steep, rocky, ground.
This event is funded by the Kyneton Woodland Project, so there is no cost to participants. If you would like to secure your place on the bus tour, please contact Clare on 54 234 152 or clare@knco.net by 25th November.
Some events this weekend (8-10 Nov)
Posted on 7 November, 2013 by Connecting Country
A reminder that the Castlemaine Field Naturalists talk this Friday evening (8 Nov 2013) is about particular recent discoveries and debates in the story of human evolution. Ross Williams gives his talk entitled ‘Bones of Contention’. For details, click here. All welcome.
The next day (Sat 9 Nov), the Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club Excursion will be to the Newstead Cemetery and the Rise and Shine Reserve. It will leave from the Octopus building in Castlemaine – opposite the Castle Motel on Duke St – at 1.30pm.
On Sunday 10 Nov, local ecologist Damien Cook is leading a Nature Walk around Bells Swamp (between Maldon and Bridgewater), from 10.30am until 12 midday. You will see the amazing response of plants and birds to the flooding of this wetland, including the nationally threatened and recently discovered Myriophyllum porcatum. The excursion will commence from the intersection of Brooms Lane and the Bridgewater-Maldon Rd (at the southern end of Bells Swamp).
Positions Available in Connecting Country’s Works Crew
Posted on 27 October, 2013 by Connecting Country
We are seeking suitable people to form the 2014 Works Crew for Connecting Country’s Connecting Landscapes program.
Do you want to work outdoors? Do you want to make the natural world a better place? If yes, then this could be the job for you.
Connecting Country is seeking enthusiastic people to form its 2014 Environmental Works Crew. With funding from the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Future Biodiversity Fund, Connecting Country is implementing a long term program to protect and enhance native vegetation at a number of sites across the Mount Alexander Shire and immediate surrounds in central Victoria.
For more information on the program, and also for a copy of the full position description, click here. The role is a fixed term position, commencing early January 2014 and concluding in August 2014.
To apply, send your curriculum vitae or resume to “Connecting Country, PO Box 437, Castlemaine, VIC, 3450 by 5pm Monday 18th November 2013 or by email to jarrod@connectingcountry.org.au
For more information regarding the project and the position, contact Jarrod Coote on (03) 5472-1594 or email jarrod@connectingcountry.org.au
8 Nov 2013 – CFNC Talk ‘Bones of Contention’
Posted on 25 October, 2013 by Connecting Country
In August 2003, on the Indonesian island of Flores, scientists found the bones of a little female adult who died 18,000 years ago. She had been a little over one metre tall with a brain barely one third the average size of ours. Nor was she alone. Remains of others of the same type were found later.
The scientists had discovered a previously unknown species, Homo floresiensis. Astoundingly, these tiny beings made stone tools, used fire to cook meat and vegetables, hunted and killed large animals, worked co-operatively in groups and probably spoke a language. That is, they developed a society with its own enduring culture. And they survived on Flores until about 12,000 years ago! The world’s media pounced on the news, and told us that “real, live hobbits” used to live in Indonesia. In scientific circles, meanwhile, the discovery ignited a dispute which, a decade later, is still hot.
Sadly, the real Homo floresiensis got lost along the way.
At the November meeting of the Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club, guest speaker Ross Williams, will talk about what the hard evidence shows about the species’ appearance, its abilities, its ecology and how it fits into our own evolutionary history.
The talk will be held on Friday 8 November from 7pm in the hall behind the Uniting Church on Lyttleton St, Castlemaine (approx. midway between Kennedy St and Barker St). Entry is free. Both members and visitors are welcome to attend. The excursion the next day will be to the Newstead cemetery and the Rise and Shine Reserve. Contact the club for further details if needed (castlemainefnc@hotmail.com).
Mount Alexander Region Landcare E-news – October Edition
Posted on 25 October, 2013 by Connecting Country
The October 2013 edition of the Mount Alexander Landcare E-news is available. Click on the banner below to download the newsletter.
The Landcare E-news is short monthly update on Landcare-related news, information and events for the Mount Alexander Shire and surrounds. Previous editions of E-news are available from the Landcare page of the Connecting Country website (click here).
The newsletter is sent out by Connecting Country’s Local Landcare Facilitator, Max Schlachter. If you would like to be put on the recipient list, send Max an email: max@connectingcountry.org.au.