18 April – Can I get paid to farm nature?
Posted on 11 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
On the evening of Wednesday 18 April at the Campbells Creek Community Centre, Connecting Country will host a facilitated panel discussion on the topic of ‘Can I get paid to farm nature?’. Participants will hear local industry experts present and debate the pros, cons and economic opportunities of managing biodiversity values on private land.
Peter Johnson from Land for Wildlife and Tim Read from Trust for Nature will discuss the benefits of land covenants. Chris Timewell from Connecting Country and Nick Lewis from ES Link Services will outline incentives available to land managers to include biodiversity in their business activity. Paul Dettmann from Greenhouse Balanced will discuss ways in which land managers can make the most of the emerging markets in biodiversity and carbon offsets. After the presentations, community members are encouraged to pose their own questions to the panel.
The free evening talk, the second of Connecting Country’s 2012 Education Program, commences at 6.30pm with a pre-talk supper. The event is fully catered by CAKE (Castlemaine Abundance Kitchen Enterprise) and the food will be sourced from locally grown ingredients – gold coin donations to the local Landcare group are welcomed.
Following this interactive evening, a field excursion will be held on Sunday 22 April where we will explore a farmer’s and a conservationist’s points of view within the context of an operational farm business. Geoff Park, North Central Catchment Management Authority’s (CMA) Knowledge Broker and operator of the Natural Newstead blog, together with Malcolm Fyffe, a Sandon sheep farmer, will discuss the ecological and agricultural values of soils, waterways, pastures and native vegetation. They will also explore notions of social equity, climate change and land-use planning. There are still places available for the field trip so register now to guarantee your place.
For more information and to RSVP please contact bryan@connectingcountry.org.au or call the Connecting Country office on 5472 1594. Full details of the education program and a registration form can be found here.
Those remnant trees in the back paddock may bring in some extra farm income – attend the Connecting Country panel discussion to find out how.
13 April – A Nature Photographers Delight
Posted on 10 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
The Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club are very excited to be hosting Carol Hall as the guest speaker at their monthly general meeting on Friday 13 April 2012. Carol is a member of Ballarat Camera Club, The Field Naturalists’ Club of Ballarat and is currently President of The Victorian Nature Photography Group. She has given illustrated talks to community groups in Ballarat and western Victoria, drawing on her professional background as well as her hobbies.
Carol will be showing slides and talking about her recent overseas adventures. “A Touch of Ice” will take the audience to Spitsbergen and Greenland for a look at the geography of the region, its climatic influences, glacial geomorphology and wildlife as seen from the deck of Aurora Expeditions’ ship “Polar Pioneer”, and walks on the tundra.
The free talks, as always, are open to both members and the general public. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. The meeting commences at 7.30pm, and is being held in the hall behind the Uniting Church in Lyttleton St, Castlemaine. Further information on the Castlemaine Field Naturalists is available from their website (click here).
28 April – A Focus on Frogs
Posted on 5 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
On Saturday 28 April the North Central CMA is conducting a free forum in Newstead on frogs. There will be a number of speakers who are frog experts. The event begins at 9am and finishes at 3.30. Lunch and morning and afternoon tea will be provided. Click here to find out more.
Identifying EVC’s: Connecting Country Field Day
Posted on 4 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
Who could have asked for more on Sunday March 25th when Connecting Country commenced its first field excursion as part of the 2012 education program? Two Mount Alexander Shire Community minibuses loaded with eager students, locally-sourced condiments and plenty of reference material took to the hills in the north-east of the shire on a warm sunny day to learn about Victoria’s native vegetation classification system – the EVC approach.
The first of three sites visited for the day was at crown land in Sedgwick. Local ecological consultant Paul Foreman started the group’s journey into vegetation classification by guiding a discussion on land form descriptions, environmental variables and the benefits and limitations of several native vegetation classification systems used in Victoria and across Australia, including the EVC system. Both Paul and Ian Higgins (from the North Central Catchment Management Authority) then led a further discussion on how EVCs can vary across the landscape and through time according to factors such as elevation, topography, land-use, soil formations, moisture and nutrient availability.
Participants are challenged by a discussion on vegetation classification from Paul Foreman under the shade of the Grey Box and Red Ironbark at site one of the tour.
Ian Higgins leads a guided walk designed to expose the group to the variables of EVCs and what they look like in real life situations.
5 April 2012 – Focus on Needle Grass
Posted on 3 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
Malmsbury Landcare Group will be hosting a public meeting this Thursday called ‘Focus on Texas Needle Grass’. The purpose of the meeting is to raise awareness of the threat this exotic grass poses to agricultural and public land in the area and to discuss how to respond to the threat. Representatives from the DPI and Shire council will be attending and speaking.
The meeting will be held at Malmsbury Town Hall on Thursday 5th April at 7:30pm. Anybody in our region concerned about the spread of exotic Needle Grasses is invited to attend.
Texas Needle Grass is almost identical to Chilean Needle Grass. If you are concerned about the existence of exotic Needle Grass in your area, or you are not sure how to identify them (they can look very similar to the native Spear Grass) there are good resources available to help. Our own region’s Chilean Needle Grass (Exotic Needle Grasses) Working Group has produced a comprehensive ‘Invasive Stipa [Needle Grass] Action Manual’, which can be accessed on the Chilean Needle Grass Working Group page on the Connecting Country Website (click here). Information on identification and management options can also be found on the DPI website (click here) and the Weeds Australia website (click here).
Chilean Needle Grass. Photo by Karen Stewart
FarmPlan21: Develop a Whole Farm Plan
Posted on 2 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
FarmPlan 21 is seeking interest within the North Central Region from landholders who would like to attend an accredited training course at DPI Bendigo on developing a whole farm plan. The course is free, runs for six evening sessions and commences on 12 April.
For more details click here.
5 May 2012 – “Understanding your Soil Test” workshop
Posted on 2 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
“You are what you eat!” may be true of humans and the food they eat, but it could also be said that your crops will reflect the soil that they grow in. Strong healthy, pest- and disease-resistant crops are likely to be growing in well-structured soils with a wide range of nutrients readily available to the plants. It is hard to imagine why all landholders wouldn’t wish to improve their soils, but many, especially those new to agriculture, often lack the know-how.
One of the best ways of finding out what your soil needs is to have a soil test done. But sometimes reading the results can be an exercise in frustration. The names of the chemicals; their interaction with each other and the cost of the whole exercise can be quite daunting.
Baynton Sidonia Landcare group is offering a workshop to assist people to understand soil tests and get an idea of how to improve their soils. The workshop is not aimed at experienced farmers and it is weighted on the natural side: if you are after conventional soil additives, there are plenty of commercial retailers.
The workshop is on Saturday 5th May at the Baynton Hall, starting at 10.00 am. There will be a brief talk followed by a discussion of each participant’s soil tests and after lunch a field walk to examine some nearby examples of soil improvement. The workshop will finish around 4 pm. Refreshments and lunch will be provided and the workshop is free of charge.
Each participant needs to supply one or more soil tests, either from one paddock or from across their property. Old soils tests, so we can make comparisons, would be of value too. Guidance on getting soil tests done can be obtained from Carl Reeve on 0412144 936 but if you are interested in this workshop, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Carl soon, or start getting your test(s) done, as the results can take a while.
If you would like to participate in the workshop, you will need to book with Clare on
54 234 152 or clare@knco.net before Saturday April 14th. And when you book, you will be asked to supply a copy of the soil test(s), so that Carl can have an opportunity to standardize the information, thus making it much easier for workshop participants to compare tests and so learn.
All are welcome at this workshop which is funded by the North Central Catchment Management Authority and organized by Baynton Sidonia Landcare Group.
14 & 15 April – Growing the Harvest Festival
Posted on 28 March, 2012 by Connecting Country
The Growing the Harvest Festival will be held in Castlemaine over the weekend of 14th and 15th April. The two days will be packed with activities including workshops, community apple juicing, a community lunch and meditation walks. To see the full program click here or call Heather on 0409 327791.
The Meet Your Local Farmers forum is likely to be of particular interest to Connecting Country members and supporters. It will provide an opportunity to connect with the people who grow food locally, hear their stories and understand their trials and tribulations. The contributing farmers are:
- George Kyvetos, fruit grower, from the Castlemaine Fruit Supply
- Dr Janey Jackson, beef producer
- Marie Murley, Goldfields honey
- Max Blackmore, cropping and mixed farming and secretary of the local branch of the VFF.
The session will be led by local orchardist, Katie Finlay of the Mount Alexander Fruit Gardens.
When: 11.15am – 12.15pm, Saturday 14th April
Where: Uniting Church Hall, Castlemaine
Cost: Free
We would also like to remind readers of two upcoming Connecting Country ‘farming’ events. On 18 April there will be a panel discussion on the topic of Can I get paid to farm nature? and on 22 April there will be a presentation by Geoff Park and Malcolm Fyffe on Farming and biodiversity conservation … how it can work in practice? For more details about these two events and the remainder of the 2012 Connecting Country education program click here.
‘We are country. Country is us’
Posted on 27 March, 2012 by Connecting Country
Dr Dennis Saunders, Research Fellow CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences and Member Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists
There are 20,000 kilograms of micro organisms in a hectare of soil. What happens to them in the process of agricultural production?
The fact is, as Dr Denis Saunders pointed out in his Connecting Country talk on 21 March, that we don’t know.
To explain why this is important, he put a question to his audience: if you were getting on an aeroplane, and saw a mechanic take a few bits out of the wing to put on another plane, wouldn’t you want reassurance that those bits were going to be replaced?’
At the moment we tend to be playing a game with the environment: we are not sure what changes we are bringing about, especially in the area of micro organisms. There is no reliable way of finding out how farming practices are affecting them. Reducing their numbers simplifies the landscape and potentially makes it less resilient to crisis events like flood or drought. Sobering statistics on extinctions suggest that we’re not doing as well as we should in land management.
Dr Saunders began by drawing attention to Aboriginal philosophies founded on the interdependence of land and people: ‘we are country , country is us’. He emphasised that farmers, who work on the land and manage it, are keys to land health: and that they should be suitably rewarded for their efforts, both through schemes like BushTender and through a fair pricing system for products of the land.
Dr Saunders pointed out that we are not presently paying the full price for food and fibre products: production is subsidised to an unknown extent by environmental degradation. An accounting system integrating agricultural and biodiversity values might be a way of getting a grip on how things are changing. ‘Conservation’ has tended to be a matter confined to such areas as National Parks: in fact, private productive land is at least as important.
Interestingly, Dr Saunders expressed misgivings about the word ‘biodiversity’, a potentially confusing term which he preferred not to use. And he warned that we should be careful in our use of language in talking of environmental matters. The tendency of conservation workers to talk down to farmers, and for some farmers to be dismissive of environmental concerns, will not help get a practical consensus about how we can ensure landscape productivity long term.
Seventy-five people came along to the Newstead Community centre for this event. The gold coin donation from attendees for the evening’s food is being donated to Newstead Landcare Group.
The next in the evening series of talks is a Panel Discussion – Can I get paid to farm nature? on Wednesday 18th of April, 6:30pm to 9pm, Campbells Creek Community Centre. For more information about Connecting Country’s 2012 education program click here.
March edition of Groundcover
Posted on 19 March, 2012 by Connecting Country
The March issue of the North Central CMA publication Groundcover is now available and can be downloaded here. As well as including interesting articles on Texas Needle-Grass and Myrtle rust, this issue covers Connecting Country’s appointment of Max Schlachter as the new local Landcare facilitator and information on Connecting Country’s education program.
2012 Mount Alexander Shire Youth Awards
Posted on 16 March, 2012 by Connecting Country
As part of National Youth Week 2012, Mount Alexander Shire Council is re-launching the Mount Alexander Youth Awards. The Awards will be presented at the Youth Celebration and Awards Night to be held during National Youth Week on Thursday 19 April 2012.
These Awards promote and celebrate the achievements and contributions of young people to the Mount Alexander community. The Awards are open to young people aged between 12 and 25 who are employed or reside in the Mount Alexander Shire. For more information click here.
20 March – Biodiversity and agriculture – working together
Posted on 16 March, 2012 by Connecting Country
Dr Denis Saunders, former CSIRO chief research scientist, member of the Wentworth Group, and president of World Wildlife Fund.
Biodiversity and agriculture are often seen as separate entities, however, this doesn’t need to be the case. On Tuesday evening, 20 March 2012, internationally renowned scientist Dr. Denis Saunders will present a free public talk at the Newstead Community Centre on the reasons why. With a long and distinguished career in landscape-scale analyses of agricultural rangelands and studies of Australian bird ecology, Dr Saunders is well placed to deliver this presentation – which will be of great interest to everyone – conservationists and farmers alike.
“Biodiversity – the variety of all life forms and their geographic patterns – is integral to a functioning landscape and provides critical environmental services such as nutrient cycling, water filtration and soil stability. Everyone benefits from a biodiverse environment. When biodiversity is diminished these benefits, such as life support processes, are decreased”, says Connecting Country Project Coordinator Chris Timewell. Dr. Saunders will present a case that agriculture is an enterprise that is critically dependent on biodiversity services and will describe how we might go about integrating them. A question and answer session will follow the presentation.
Denis’s evening talk, the first of Connecting Country’s 2012 Education Program, commences at 6.30pm with a pre-talk supper (gold coin donation to the local Newstead Landcare group). This free event is fully catered and the food will be sourced from locally grown ingredients. All the evening talks and field days are open to all members of the public.
Also coming up on Sunday the 25th of March is a field trip with Connecting Country to Pilchers Bridge where participants will learn about the process of identifying Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVCs) and learn how they can be used in revegetation and biodiversity management. There are still places available for the field trip so register now to guarantee your place.
For more information and to RSVP please contact bryan@connectingcountry.org.au or call the Connecting Country office on 5472 1594. Full details of Connecting Country’s 2012 education program and a registration form can be found here.
25 March – Woody Weed Cutting and Painting Workshop
Posted on 13 March, 2012 by Connecting Country
Golden Point Landcare will be running a woody weed cutting and painting workshop on Sunday March 25th from 11.30am-12.30pm at the Prideaux/Billington property, Chapel Street, Golden Point. The workshop is part of the NCCMA and Victorian Government funded project Private Land Weed Control 2011.
Fritz Hammersley, the project officer, will be demonstrating cutting and painting technique for the control of Gorse, Blackberry and Broom and any other woody weeds and discussing how this method fits in with broader aspects of weed control. This event will not feature chainsaw use. Tools and equipment will be provided.
As the event is on private property and late morning tea will be provided, it is requested that anyone interested in participating RSVP Fritz on 0411566987 or email fritzham@bigpond.com by end of day Saturday March 24th.
Directions to the property will begin with signage on the corner of Llewellyn Rd and Golden Point Road, which is a little to the south of Expedition Pass Reservoir.
Fritz addressing participants at the Golden Point Landcare seed collection and sowing workshop in February. Photo: John Ellis
Nest box Monitoring and other Events
Posted on 5 March, 2012 by Connecting Country
Presenter Bryan McMullan is pictured along with one of the 400 nest boxes that have been strategically placed throughout the region.
Thanks to all those that joined Connecting Country in our nest box monitoring workshop in Chewton on 29 February. Participants were shown how to monitor and accurately identify nest box occupants and discussed how to document the sightings using our data sheet. They also received a visual display on the Brush-tailed Phascogale and the Sugar Glider, and how to differentiate between them.
Many thanks to Glenn Harrison of the Chewton Bushlands for hosting a nest box site visit during the evening and discussing the conservation initiatives that he is undertaking on his property.
The session was well received by all participants and was a wonderful opportunity to network and share ideas. This was the first of four nest boxworkshops – the others will be in Maldon (March 7), Sutton Grange (March 14) and Guildford (March 15). To find out more about these workshops and the other components of Connecting Country’s 2012 Education Program, click here, or call the Connecting Country office on 03 5472 1594.
As in 2011, a number of Connecting Country’s 2012 evening education events will be catered for by the Growing Abundance Project. The aim of this local organisation is to ‘give our community the tools to live more sustainably by reducing food miles and food waste’. To find out more about the organisation, click here, and to view their Low Food Miles campaign, click here.
Two opportunities to hear local nest box expert, Miles Geldard
You can find out more about how nest boxes work, how they can be designed for differnt animals and the ins and outs of constructing and placing them from local expert, Miles Geldard, at two upcoming events.
The first is on Friday 9 March when Miles Geldard will be the guest speaker at the Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club. The meeting will take place at 7.30pm in the Uniting Church Hall, Lyttleton St, Castlemaine. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Miles will also give a presentation at Newstead Landcare’s meeting on Thursday 16 June from 8-9 pm at Newstead Community Centre. This presentation will be followed by a cup of tea and then a brief business meeting if you would like to hang around. All are welcome to attend either the presentation or the meeting. Contact Patrick Kavanagh (Secretary) or Frances Cincotta (President) 5476 2691 for further information.
More information about Miles Geldard’s nest boxes can be found on his website Wildlife Nestboxes.
2012-13 Community Action Grants
Posted on 1 March, 2012 by Connecting Country
The Australian Government is seeking applications for 2012-13 Community Action Grants from local community groups to help them take action to conserve and protect their local environment.
As part of the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country initiative, Community Action Grants recognise the contribution that community groups make to the Caring for our Country priority areas of:
- Coastal environments and critical aquatic habitats
- Sustainable farm practices, or
- Biodiversity and natural icons.
As in previous rounds, local community, farming and Indigenous groups can apply for a grant between $5,000 and $20,000 (GST exclusive) to fund projects that encourage active participation and build the skills and knowledge of the community to protect and restore our environment and natural resources. Projects may include hosting a local field day, developing natural resource management plans, educating land owners in sustainable agriculture techniques and on-ground works.
Community Action Grant applications are subject to a competitive assessment process. Applications will be assessed based on alignment to Caring for our Country priorities, community engagement, project feasibility and value for money. All successful applicants must finish their project by 30 June 2013.
Applications close at 5pm (AEDT), on Tuesday 27 March 2012.
For more information on eligibility and to submit a Community Action Grants application, visit the Caring for our Country website (http://www.nrm.gov.au/funding/cag/index.html) or telephone 1800 552 008.
Report on Connecting Country’s Reference Group Meeting
Posted on 29 February, 2012 by Connecting Country
The first Connecting Country Reference Group meeting for 2012 was held on Monday 20 February. The turnout was excellent with representatives from a fourteen local Landcare Groups, Parks Victoria, Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests, North Central CMA, Redesdale Biolink Project, Mount Alexander Shire, Normal Wettendhall Foundation and Connecting Country staff and Committee of Management members.
The two new Connecting Country workers were introduced to the meeting: Max Schlachter, the new Landcare facilitator, and Michael Luke, coordinator of the Brilliant Barkers Creek Project. Kylie Stafford, the new Mount Alexander Shire Natural Environment Officer was also introduced.
The evening provided the opportunity for interested members of Landcare groups and others to have input into the new Landcare facilitator’s future workplan. The suggestions for future priorities have been collated in this Landcare Feedback document.
Finally the Forest Creek Action Plan was launched by Marie Jones, President of Connecting Country. The Plan documents how the creek is valued by local residents and what threats it may face in the future. It also provides information on the social and natural history of Forest Creek.
The minutes of the meeting can be read by clicking here.
Farm-Tree and Landcare Association Newsletter
Posted on 27 February, 2012 by Connecting Country
The February Farm-Tree and Landcare Association newsletter has lots of interesting items including information on:
- 2012-2013 Community Action Grants
- How to have input into the 2012 National Landcare Conference program
The newsletter can be viewed by clicking here.
New Landcare Facilitator for Mount Alexander
Posted on 27 February, 2012 by Connecting Country
Connecting Country has received a $204,600 share of the Victorian Government’s
$12 million Victorian Local Landcare Facilitator Initiative grant to provide local Landcare support up to June 2015. And, following a rigorous interview process, Connecting Country is happy to announce that Max Schlachter has commenced as the Landcare Facilitator for the Mount Alexander region. Max comes to the position with a background in environmental science and forest ecosystem science. Over many weeks in 2011 and 2012, Max also volunteered with Connecting Country to produce the recently launched local action plan for Forest Creek.
There are more than 30 Landcare and ‘Friends’ groups active in the Mount Alexander Shire and immediate surrounds. They undertake projects across the landscape which improve degraded farmland, create habitat for native animals and plants, improve soil and river health, and educating the community about their local environment.
Max Schlachter
Max’s role will be to assist Landcare and Friends groups in the Shire to achieve their goals. This may include helping to gain funding from government and non-government sources, produce strategic local area plans and action plans and also to link groups with each other and with useful information. For some groups, this may be a great opportunity to re-invigorate their efforts with the extra bit of assistance available. For others, it might be an opportunity to expand their network and enhance their existing projects.
If you would like to know more about what Landcare does, or to find out what is happening in your area, contact Max by email at max@connectingcountry.org.au or by phone on 5472 1594 or visit the Connecting Country website (http://connectingcountry.org.au/landcare/).
12 April – Building Resilient Ecosystems Forum
Posted on 26 February, 2012 by Connecting Country
A free forum on the theme Building resilient ecosystems in Victoria: what is our vision and how can we achieve it? is being hosted by Deakin University (Burwood Campus) on Thursday 12 April 2012 (week after Easter). Some of the most distinguished names in Victorian science and conservation ecology will be presenting.
There is increasing emphasis on building ‘resilience’ as a goal in land management and conservation. This forum will bring together different viewpoints and experience to explore ideas and questions about resilience and its application to conservation and land management. It will be valuable for a wide range of people – scientists, land managers, conservation practitioners, and community members.
Registration is essential to allow for catering. Click here for more information including registration details.
2012 Autumn Fungi Workshops
Posted on 24 February, 2012 by Connecting Country
Photo: Alison Pouliot
The Central Victorian Fungi Ecology Workshop Series is running again this coming autumn. If you would like to know more about this curious kingdom, workshops include interactive displays, illustrated seminars and exciting forest forays deep into our local forests. Full details are listed at www.alisonpouliot.com Workshops book up fast so perhaps don’t delay making a reservation if you’d like to attend.