Hello to all of our Landcare Members, Partners, Sponsors and Friends throughout the Bass Coast Landcare Network.

There are more upcoming events in this newsletter than there have been for a very long time! We can't wait to see you all at the upcoming field days, social events, farm walks and plantings, all still run in a Covid safe manner of course. 

We would also like to acknowledge all of our wonderful Volunteers as next week from Monday 17th to Sunday 23rd of May it is National Volunteer Week. Volunteers are the core of Landcare, every action, no matter how small counts. Every hour committed adds up to the thousands of hours you all spend each year to restore our Bass Coast landscapes, improve the sustainability of our land and create the fantastic community we all enjoy. 

This Enews also has a lot of new grants, information and resources for you to explore so grab a cuppa and enjoy our latest edition of the Bass Coast Landcare Network Enews.

For all the latest updates, follow us on Facebook and Instagram... just click the links above!

UPCOMING EVENTS 

Natural Capital Accounting methods have been developed for assessing both vegetation and soils on-farm which can be turned into accounting terms that may attract future funding incentives and trading opportunities.  ​

This farm walk will feature Karen Thomas from the PPWCMA, who will talk us through the Accounting for Nature and Landcare (Level 3) Natural Capital Accounting process.  This will be followed by respected regenerative agriculture consultant, Declan McDonald, who will demonstrate the soils method that has been developed for the program.  

Click here for further information and to register

The next River Garden Blitz day will take place from 9:30am-12:30pm on Saturday 22nd of May, as unfortunately our staff were sick and couldn't run the May 8th day as advertised. Next month we will revert back to the second Saturday of the month on June 12th.

The focus on this day will be to continue setting up our 'All access' garden beds area at the bottom of the Swales. We would love to show you how to layer up new garden beds in the 'no dig' style and would also love your help to plant some winter veg in this area before it gets too cold. 

We have just moved our VanHut to a more convenient location at the bottom of our swale beds,  so it's now time to make it more of a home and useful space for us to gather at the River garden!

Click here to find out more about the River Garden and join our River Garden Community by signing up as a volunteer. 

Open Food Network Webinars - May 26th

Are you looking for ways to improve your enterprise but don't know where to start? Do you want to hear and learn from other food businesses about their experiences?
These free webinars are not only for those using the Open Food Network platform, but anyone running a food enterprise.
Share your (big and small) pain points and achievements, ask questions and seek advice, and learn from others within the broader community food network.
May Event - Making Informed Decisions
Wednesday 26 May, 6:00 - 7:00pm AEST*
This webinar will focus on how community food enterprises and producers
can make informed (and better!) business decisions.
- Why data matters, and how to make it simple and user-friendly !
- Understanding and measuring impact
- How to establish and implement useful and effective tools suited to your
enterprise

Click here for further information and to register

If you would like to learn about Regenerative Grazing on steep and flat terrain, come along to these great sessions where you will hear from Graeme Hand about:
• Implementing a regenerative grazing management approach—why and how
• Animal and plant-based monitoring methods
• Setting up your own safe-to-fail practice area
• A chance to develop your own grazing plan
Taught by Alan Savory, Graeme Hand has 25 years of experience with planned grazing management, including land and soil health monitoring, enterprise design and financial planning and monitoring. This is sure to be an interesting event!

Click here for further information and to register​

Korumburra Landcare Group have secured Tom May, Mycologist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, to give an overview of fungi in intact and restored ecosystems, covering their diversity and ecological roles, as well as highlighting the habits of Victoria's rarest fungus, the enigmatic Tea-tree Fingers. This is sure to be a popular event, so please RSVP early to secure your spot, as places are limited!

Click here to view the flyer and RSVP information​

Planning to attend a Community Planting day this year? Phillip Island Landcare and Coast Action Group Dates announced

As we write this Enews listening to the sound of the rain on the roof, we are reminded that its nearly our favourite time of the year, the Planting season!

Phillip Island Landcare group are ready and waiting with their community planting dates now announced for 2021. This year they also have a Coastcare Grant where they are supporting some of the local Coast Action groups with their activity and planting days. 

Saturday 19th June - Planting day at Kym Plant's property.
Saturday 26th June - Planting day at Tracey and Darren Jeffery's.
Sunday 11th July - Planting day for Saltwater Creek Coast Action Group.
Friday 16th July - Planting day for Ventnor Coast Action Group.
Saturday 24th July - Planting day for Silverleaves Conservation Society.
Saturday 31st July - Planting day for Cape Woolamai Coast Action Group.
Saturday 14th August - Planting Day at Heather and Glen Davidson's.

More details will be available closer to these dates, please see the Phillip Island Landcare Group page by clicking here.

Bunny Boiler is on Again - Pick a Winner for Dinner!

The Phillip Island Landcare Group will once again be hosting the Bunny Boiler Dinner event this year, where you get to choose the best dish by competing professional chefs and home cooks at a fun social evening to raise awareness about rabbits, the problems they cause and how to control them.  Bookings will soon be open for this event, so be sure to put Friday the 2nd of July in your diary and watch the Phillip Island Landcare group webpage for the flyer with all the booking details, or their Facebook page by following the links below. 

Phillip Island Landcare Group web page

Phillip Island Landcare Group facebook page

The National Landcare Conference is the largest knowledge sharing convention for the Landcare community. This national event brings together Landcare groups and volunteers, landholders and farmers, Indigenous land and sea managers, landcare facilitators and coordinators, educators, research agencies, natural resource management professionals, and other community environmental groups and individuals to share insights, learn and connect. The conference attracts delegates from around the world, and from rural, regional and urban communities in Australia with a common purpose – a vision to actively restore and protect the environment in their local community through sustainable land management and conservation activities.

Hosted by Landcare champion and ABC TV host, Costa Georgiadis, the 2021 National Landcare Conference program includes keynote and plenary speakers, panelists, session streams and a comprehensive field trip program around the Greater Sydney region. Due to COVID-19, the 2021 National Landcare Conference and 2021 National Landcare Awards will be hybrid events with both in-person and online delegate options.

Click here to find out more and reserve your spot!

GROUP AND NETWORK NEWS

This summer we concentrated our mangrove restoration efforts on testing different planting variables for mangrove establishment, such as timing, seed selection and planting depth on our sites around Westernport Bay in Grantville and Jam Jerrup.
After 3 months, we are already starting to see some indicative results, and success rates in some plots are as high as 90-100%. We will continue to monitor the results throughout the year, and we are looking forward to getting more volunteers and school students involved in our intertidal zone activities next summer!
 
BCLN acknowledges the support of Coastcare Victoria, the Victorian government and the Port Philip & Western Port Catchment Management Authority.

For more information on Mangrove plantings in our Ramsar Protection in Westernport Project please click here. 

We recently held a successful farm walk at the property of Janette and Andrew Allen in Kernot. The focus of the day was 'Commencing your on-farm regenerative agriculture journey'. Specifically Janette and Andrew spoke about the challenges, opportunities and learnings they have experienced since starting their regenerative agriculture journey. Their messages and experiences clearly resonated with those in attendance.
Thanks to Janette and Andrew for hosting this great farm walk and thanks also to Chris Alenson for contributing his knowledge and expertise on the day.
This project is supported by PPWCMA through funding from the Australian
Government’s National Landcare program in partnership with Bass Coast Landcare Network.

For more information about Sustainable Agriculture activities please click here. 

Praise for our Wonderful Works Crew

It has been a busy time for the BCLN works crew, led by Mark Rowe. The crew recently worked on a job removing Pittosporums from a property in the Gurdies, with a very happy client.
“A big thumbs up to Mark Rowe and crew for cutting down and removing trees at The Gurdies for my mother recently. Top Job fellas! On behalf of my mother Doreen Sheean and myself, we thank you for the great work performed by your team. So if you're looking for an affordable, safe and professional crew, then look no further. Highly recommend.”

The hard-working team are now gearing up for the tree planting season and are taking bookings to assist with many of your site preparation jobs including fencing, spot spraying and weed control. With wild weather season fast approaching there may also be some trees you either want removed or have come down in the windy conditions. The crew can tackle these jobs too.
 For competitive pricing, please click below for a free quote... As a not-for-profit, any revenue generated goes back into supporting the activities of the Bass Coast Landcare Network!

Click here to view our Works Crew Services and get a free quote.

The Bass Coast Landcare Network successfully hosted a Water Management in a Changing Climate field day on May 3rd with a focus on ‘Using landscape function to store and manage water’.  The field day commenced in the Kernot Hall where guest speakers from CSIRO (John Clarke) and the Mulloon Institute (Peter Hazel) spoke about what Southern Gippsland’s future climate will look like and how we can start to look at using our landscape and soils to store more water and increase resilience.  40 people attended the field day and were treated to high quality guest speakers who came prepared to share a wealth of knowledge. 

The afternoon farm walk was held at the Woodleigh property of Camilla and Joby Graves who were happy to share their experiences and challenges with managing their water needs during periods of dry and also excessive wet periods.  There was vigorous discussion around soil health and increasing soil organic matter followed by a visit to an eroded gully where Peter Hazel highlighted some of the ideas he would consider when treating an eroded gully and rehydrating the system at the same time. 

Property owner, Camilla Graves summed the day up nicely. “The Mulloon institutes methodology is really interesting, looking at slowing the flow using leaky ponds, structures and vegetation.  By slowing the flow, the water remains on farm for longer and hydrates the adjoining landscape.  This would really assist agriculture in our region during the dry summers we often experience."

Everyone agreed that designing and implementing some demonstrations in Southern Gippsland is the next step, something the Bass Coast Landcare Network will be vigorously pursuing with the Mulloon Institute into the future. 

Thank you to everyone involved who made this day a great success and to Victorian Government for funding the 'Future Homes, Farms and Festivals' project of which this day was a part. 

​For more information on upcoming events in this series click here to go to our news and events page for updates. 

Paul Speirs is one of the senior 3 Creeks and BCLN members, and has transformed his blackberry infested creek line, to treed wonderland through dedication to weed eradication and revegetation. Visitors to BCLN are often taken to Paul's; walking down into his stunning tree-filled creek line which was previously nothing but weeds, one cannot help but be inspired.
​Watch as he discusses and shows the changes he has made, and be inspired yourself!

Click here and scroll down to view the film 

Filmed and edited by Mikey Matthews www.mikeymatthews.com
Sound mix by Zak Duarte

The dedicated volunteers from the BCLN Indigenous Nursery Group (BLING) are the driving force of the nursery. These hard-working volunteers have been meeting on a weekly basis for five years now, filling soil trays, carefully putting seeds in and pricking out seedlings once they germinate, then caring for the seedlings as they grow big enough to be planted out on sites. It is with their great efforts that the nursery has been able to expand over these five years, with this year the group growing upwards of 50,000 indigenous plants. A big thank you to everyone who has been a part of this group over the years.

This social group meets and volunteers every Friday from 9.30am-12.30pm in Bass, at the Bass Recreation Reserve and new volunteers are always welcome. If you are interested in joining the nursery group, contact Robbie Gray at [email protected] for more information. 

The nursery is now open for retail plant sales most Fridays! Many types of local indigenous species are on offer, in a range of sizes including hico tubes, forestry tubes and 6 inch pots. Prior to visiting please confirm you are coming via email with managers Stevie [email protected] and Robbie r[email protected]. Please note payment is by card only and receipts will be emailed or sent via SMS.

Click here to find out more about our Indigenous Nursery Group.

We are seeking public input to identify the locations of local koala populations to develop a plan to improve connectivity of habitat in the Wonthaggi - Inverloch coastal region.

Please drop us an email with the locations of any sightings of koalas in recent years to help us put together the population puzzle. 

Contact Jye at [email protected] 

GRANTS, TRAINING, INFORMATION AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR LANDHOLDERS

Farming Together has just released a new look website which has been designed with you in mind as a solutions-focused destination containing all the resources and tools you need to collaborate.
Are you looking to get connected? Farming together have a large agricultural network across Australia that can connect you with the people and resources to help you collaborate and welcome contributions including collaborative questions or callouts.
Whether you are just starting out on your collaborative journey or have an existing collaborative arrangement, the website addresses the real-world needs of farmers, fishers, and foresters. It offers case studies, webinars, videos, blogs, podcasts, factsheets and more to grow new collaborations and cultivate existing ones.
This month, they unveil Southern Cross University's groundbreaking collaborative applied research projects which will quantify the benefits of regenerative agricultural practices in restoring degraded soils across Australia over three years. The eight soil carbon projects are innovative collaborations between farmers, researchers, Natural Resource Management services, and consultants.

Check it out here!​

Applications are now open for the 2021 Victorian Landcare Grants.
The Victorian Government is providing $2.55 million of funding for project and support grants across the state.

Project grants of up to $30,000 and Support grants of up to $500 are available, open to all Victorian Landcare and environmental volunteering groups and networks that have a focus on on-ground land and natural environment improvement work.
Grant applications close 5pm Wednesday 16 June.

Click here for further information 

The Victorian government is providing funding up to $647,000 for the 2021 Coastcare Victoria Community Grants program.

This year, there are two types of grants available: Small grants of up to $5,000, and large grants from $5,000 to $30,000 for larger projects.

Projects will fit into one of three streams on offer including:

- Stewardship and Education.
- Strengthening our Volunteer Groups.
- Supporting Traditional Owner Self-Determination

Please click here for further information, eligibility, and to apply

The Victorian Gorse Taskforce (VGT) supports communities to reduce gorse in their local area. The VGT Small Community Grants Program provides up to $5,000 for small-scale gorse control on individual properties (2 or more). This mainly provides funding to rebate 50% of costs for landholders to undertake gorse control.
If gorse is a problem on your land or across your community, the VGT encourages you to apply. Speak with neighbors or your local Landcare group to determine how many landholders are interested and the extent of the gorse infestations. You can also get in contact with VGT Officer Jason Good at [email protected] or contact  [email protected]​ for more information on potential gorse infestations on your property.
The program has commenced, and applications will close on the 28th of May 2021.

Click here for more information on eligibility and how to apply​

Landcare Australia are inviting nominations for the 2021 State and Territory Landcare Awards which recognises individuals and community groups across the country for their outstanding contributions to preserving the unique Australian landscape. The Landcare Awards support the sharing of knowledge and achievements while promoting leadership and resilience in communities.

Eight national award categories are now open for nominations:

- Australian Government Individual Landcarer Award
- Australian Government Partnerships for Landcare Award
- Australian Government Landcare Farming Award
- Coastcare Award
- Landcare Community Group Award
- Woolworths Junior Landcare Team Award
- KPMG Indigenous Land Management Award
- Young Landcare Leadership Award

Applications in Victoria close June 30th 2021

Click here for more information 

Applications for the 2021 Young Farmers Scholarship Program are now open.
The Upskill and Invest – Young Farmers Scholarship is an opportunity to invest in you and your career.
​Up to $10,000 is available per scholarship:

- up to $5000 towards study
​- up to $5000 to invest in putting new skills into practice, with professional development, business planning or other on-farm activities.

The scholarship program is designed to be flexible, to fit with the demands and ambitions of young farmers and farm workers.

Click here for information and eligibility 

It's been a busy month at the River Garden with more VCAL groups, this time from St. Bedes college. One of the groups of year 12's actually came two years ago so it was great for them to continue their involvement, this time helping to establish our new 'All access garden beds' at the bottom of the swales areas. The students moved garden bed edging previously constructed by Horticulture Certificate 2 students from Bass Coast Adult Education, to their final places in this new area. The whole area has now been sheet mulched and most boxes filled with composted calf shed spoilings delivered on site a few years ago which has now broken down into the perfect growing media for our winter veggie plantings.

It was wild and woolly for our River Garden Blitz and Creative Composting with Ric Coleman day on the 10th of April however the few that braved the conditions enjoyed their day and learned a ton of info from Ric's broad range of knowledge on all things Permaculture. See our news and events page for details of our Pop up Blitz on Saturday 22nd of May and we will also still be keeping to the second Saturday of the month for our Blitzes, making the next one on Saturday the 10th of June from 9.30am-12.30pm. Join in on the learning, doing and sharing of produce, just like some of our lovely volunteers pictured above. 

We would love to see you down at the River Garden, click here to find out how you can get involved in our River Garden Community. 

Offset Your Vehicle Emissions with Local Planting Projects!

If you feel passionate about the environment and want to do your bit for our beautiful native flora and fauna, why not consider offsetting your car emissions with Bass Coast Landcare Network? Just click on your car's size to make a donation, which will cover the planting of enough indigenous plants to offset your car’s emissions for a year and contribute to restoring your own local landscape. 

All your friends and family will also see your complimentary car sticker showing your commitment to the Bass Coast environment.

Bass Coast Arc – Landcare Public Fund making projects a reality – Donate today to make a difference!

The Bass Coast Landcare Public Fund is a regional non-profit organisation focusing on conserving biodiversity throughout Bass Coast.​ The Bass Coast Arc – “Community Access to Public Space” concept supports community groups to work with public land managers to improve the environment of our public spaces and create appropriate access to these unique areas.

Your contribution, no matter how small, helps to protect native plants and animals in Bass Coast’s most ecologically important landscapes. ​

What's your story?

We would love to hear from you and your Landcare group with stories and photos of what's been happening in your area and any suggestions of things that you would like to see in your E-news.

We look forward to meeting and catching up with you at upcoming events and activities around Bass Coast.

Until next edition, 

Happy reading, from the Bass Coast Landcare Network.