Hello to all our Landcare Members, Partners, Sponsors and Friends throughout the Bass Coast Landcare Network and welcome to the September edition of our E-news. We are now definitely feeling spring in the air!

We have lots of good news to celebrate this month, including awards, plenty of successful grant announcements, as well as some great upcoming events - the planting season isn't quite over just yet! There are also articles about past plantings,  events and updates on some great projects. 

Scroll down, click on the links for more information and enjoy!

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UPCOMING EVENTS 

Want to set up your own monitoring program on your property to see how successful your improvement works are? Want to find out how your dam or stream water quality is going? Come along to this free session, including lunch from 10am to 1pm starting at the Bass Hall. 

• Learn how to monitor the success and quality of revegetation projects with Sacha Jellinek of Greening Australia who runs the ‘Monitoring Revegetation activities - Adaptive Learning Project’.
• Learn how to use an Environmental Water quality kit to test quality of water for your farm dams, streams or creeks with Lisa Wangman of Bass Coast Landcare Network - BYO water sample from your farm dam or waterway.
• Learn how to do a rapid soil assessment for your paddocks with Lisa Wangman of Bass Coast Landcare Network - at the River Garden educational growing space

Click here to find the full flyer with all details on our website and follow the link to book your free place through Eventbrite. 

Kongwak Hills Landcare Group - Last Planting day for 2019! Now Sunday 22nd September

Kongwak Hills Landcarer's would love a little extra help to get the last few plants in for the season on Saturday 22nd of September. This may be your last chance to get involved with a Community planting day this year!

For property details and to be added to the Kongwak Hills email list, please contact the secretary Marg Hauser at  [email protected]

You can also keep updated on Kongwak Hills planting events at their Facebook page by clicking here. 

Korumburra Landcare Group - Last Planting day for 2019! Sunday 22nd September

The last planting event for Korumburra Landcare Group for the year, come and join them on the beautiful property, of Travis Lukies for a family friendly fun morning. There are 4000 plants to go into the ground.
The address is 790 Bena-Kongwak Rd, Bena and RSVPs are essential to Travis at [email protected] (needing numbers for lunch). This may be your last chance to get involved with a Community planting day this year!

Click here for more information on the Korumburra Landcare Group.

French Island AGM - It's all about Carbon - Sept 22

Take a trip across the bay to French Island on Sunday 22nd September to join French Island Landcare for their AGM. Guest Speaker Bob Davie from Bimbadeen Farm, on Phillip Island will discuss 'What do farmers want to know about carbon?' Members, non-members and new residents all welcome. Come along and learn about: soil carbon and how it can improve your pasture and beef/sheep production.
All enquiries, nominations etc. to The Secretary at [email protected]

For more info about French Island Landcare Group, click here!

You are invited to participate in a fun workshop and farm walk... Come and find out if these threatened species might be living at your place,
and how you can help them survive!
Dr Beverley Van Praagh, terrestrial invertebrate expert, will be the guest speaker for the event.
During the workshop, you'll learn about the biology and habits of these
cryptic animals, and find out how to identify and manage earthworm
habitat on your property
During the farm walk you will learn how standard revegetation techniques aren’t always suitable for Giant Gippsland Earthworms as the
growing trees reduce soil moisture which is critical for earthworm survival. We’ll visit two farms where revegetation designed to conserve
earthworm habitat was trialled five years ago and we will hear whether it has worked!

Click here for more information and to register!

You are invited along to this exciting field day on biosecurity in a changing climate and its impacts on agriculture in Southern Gippsland.  
Field day topics include:
• Biosecurity planning, farm hygiene, current and future pathogens and parasites
• New and emerging pest plants as a biosecurity threat
• Integrated pest management in a changing climate; a horticulture enterprise case study 
• Good and bad soil biology and what to expect in a changing climate
• Liver Fluke and the ‘on farm’ warning signs

Click here for more info and to RSVP!​

Save the Date! Landcare Victoria Inc. Forum -  People, Partnerships and Produce - October 25-27

Landcare Victoria Inc. is delighted to invite you to the Biannual LVI
Forum in October, hosted by the West Gippsland Landcare Networks and their Partners. We are encouraging everyone to save
the date and stay tuned for more exciting details and booking information as they come to hand. Join the discussion and express your interest on the LVI Facebook Page – www.facebook.com/landcarevictoriaincorporated and click through to their 'save the date' event to follow any updates or click this link to go straight there.

The Growing Southern Gippsland project will be hosting a field day on November 28^th at Prom Country Cheese. The topic of the field day is:

‘Becoming a Carbon Cocky- Carbon Farming in a Changing Climate’.

Details of this field day are still being developed and once finalised will be circulated widely via the Bass Coast Landcare Networks Enews,  Facebook page, website and through email circulation.

For further information please email joel.geoghegan@basscoastlandcare.org.au

GROUP AND NETWORK NEWS

BCLN Wins Network Award

Friday August 30th was the 2019 Victorian Landcare Awards, and a bus of 18 people from Bass Coast made their way up to the grand surrounds of Government House in Melbourne.
This group represented a mix of local Landcare Group members, Bass Coast
Landcare Network Board and Staff members, Westernport Catchment Landcare Network members, as well as Gippsland Intrepid Landcare Group members who were collectively up for eight nominations for the 15 award categories on offer.

After the first few categories were announced we started to wonder if we would be lucky to receive any awards, then came the Landcare Network Award, and the winners were.......

Gippsland Intrepid Landcare Win Austcover Young Landcare Leadership Award

Sharing in the success were Gippsland Intrepid Landcare Group who won the Austcover Young Landcare Leadership Award! This award acknowledges an individual or group between the ages of 15 - 35 years who promote excellence in Landcare through on-ground projects and/or awareness raising activities.
This group has certainly done all that and more. In just two years they have planted more than 10,000 trees, removed 34kg of marine debris from beaches and removed weeds including sea spurge and dolichos pea from sensitive dune systems.
This group is really inspiring the next generation of Landcarers into action by changing the way they communicate and developing fun, adventurous events that help protect the environment, a winning formula.

What a great way to celebrate Landcare week in style! Congratulations to all involved.

Click here for the Gippsland Intrepid Landcare Facebook page and get involved in the action!

A total of 8 grants have been awarded to our Landcare region through the Victorian Government's Victorian Landcare Grants, totaling nearly $150,000! Listed below is a list of successful groups and their projects.  

• Bass Coast Landcare Network
  $17,052, Westernport Catchment Custodian Kids: Detecting, Documenting and Protecting the Catchment
• Bass Coast Landcare Network
  $20,000, Powlett Catchment Custodian Kids: Detecting, Documenting and Protecting the Catchment
  
• Bass Valley Landcare Group
  $20,000, Creating, Protecting and Enhancing Swamp Skink and Powerful Owl Habitat in the Bass Valley
• Phillip Island Landcare Group Inc.
  $19,892, Enhancement and Monitoring of the Phillip Island Wildlife Corridor

• Powlett Project Landcare Group

  $19,500, Holding the Land Together: Community-led Erosion Control in the Powlett Catchment

• Anderson Inlet Landcare Group

  $19,500, Protecting Places for Laces

• 3 Creeks Landcare Group
  $20,000, 3 Creeks, 3 Sites, 1 Community
  

• Gippsland Agroforestry Network 
  $20,000, 2020 Master TreeGrower Course in Gippsland

• Gippsland Intrepid Landcare
  $7,604, Getting Young People into (and Improving) the Bunurong Coast, Corner Inlet and Tarra Bulga environments

​Support grants of $500 each have been awarded to the following groups;

• Kongwak Hills Landcare Group

• Korumburra Landcare Group

It was a fantastic community session at the Totally Renewable Phillip Island open day in Cowes recently, where in a world first ‘Carbon Insetting’ auction, our very own Network Chair, Ric and Mez Oldham purchased the first ton of carbon for a record $800!!!
This carbon was donated by Bob and Anne Davie of Bimbadeen farm to the Totally Renewable Phillip Island movement, then auctioned by Greg Price to raise funds to support other farmers to conduct initial soil tests then start the process of using regenerative agricultural principles to increase soil carbon on their own properties.
Bhavani Rooks of Phillip Island Landcare Group explained the participation protocol to be part of the Carbon Insetting program including working with four new farms to increase and trade soil carbon on Phillip Island this year. Stay tuned for more information on how to get involved!

Check out the Phillip Island Landcare page for future announcements on how to get involved. 

Last week representatives from Holcim had a great day out volunteering, lending a hand to plant trees at the Arboretum in Bass. Working alongside BCLN Board Members, Community Volunteers and Staff, Holcim staff helped to plant a mix of 1500 trees, shrubs and understory at this public reserve in the Bass River riparian zone.
This planting complemented a previous planting further up the river by Bass Valley Primary School students of 500 plants the week before, near the bridge over the Bass Highway.
The Arboretum was originally set up by the Bass Valley Landcare Group 15 years ago to display local indigenous plants in their Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVC’s), unique groupings of plants according to their soil type, aspect and positioning in the local environment.
This planting contributes to providing more of the shrub and understory layers of plants in each EVC area, helping to bring in more diversity of species to the reserve, control erosion along the Bass River and provide habitat for native animals.
This day was organised as part of Holcim’s sponsorship of the Bass Coast Landcare Network under the ‘One Tree’ program, a corporate planting program where businesses not only have the opportunity to support the iconic Landcare movement, but contribute to on-ground projects and physically see their dollars in action, right in their own areas of operation.
Under the Bass Coast Landcare Network Corporate planting programs, employees get to volunteer their time to contribute to great local projects such as these, giving increases in staff morale, helping to build productive teams, with the added bonus of being able to come back and visit the areas in their own landscapes that they helped to restore.
Bass Coast Landcare Network thanks Holcim for their support and looks forward to a productive partnership into the future!

Click here to see how you or your business can reap the benefits of being involved in our Corporate planting days or Support packages. 

A great day was held at the Spiden property in Woolamai this month where over 140 year 9's from Wonthaggi Secondary College planted over 13,000 plants in just under 4 hours!! Despite steep and challenging conditions and a long walk in and out to the planting site, all students were absolute troopers and managed to work together to get the job done!
We even had a visit from our State Member for Bass Jordan Crugnale. The planting was funded by Bass Coast Shire Council's Biolinks project and buses to get the students there were provided by the Powlett Catchment Kids Project, funded by the Victorian Landcare Grants.

For more information on Landcare Education activities and opportunities for schools click here. 

BCLN were joined by over 100 enthusiastic Year 8 students from Wonthaggi Secondary College on a sunny Friday in late August to plant 10,000 trees in West Creek. They squelched their way through the site with a brave face and boots full of mud and we were very pleased with their efforts on the day. Wonthaggi Secondary College students play a large role in restoring the Bass Coast by planting over 20,000 trees each year, an incredible achievement on their behalf. A big thank you to Brad & Dani Carr for hosting the planting and to Korrine Tennis Club for helping to feed the herd of hungry volunteers.

For more information on Landcare Education activities and opportunities for schools click here. ​​

Check out this story on our River Garden in the health focused winter
edition of the Victorian Landcare magazine on page 18!
We would love to get you involved in our monthly workshops, currently
scheduled for the second Wednesday of the month from 9-11am with a range of activities designed to help you learn how to grow healthy nutritious food. We are also currently busy planning for some spring and summer workshops at the River garden too, stay tuned for details!

Click here to read the article in the latest issue!

GRANTS, TRAINING, INFORMATION AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR LANDHOLDERS

The Weeds and Rabbits Project is keen to encourage more young people to connect with their local community and natural environment through invasive pest and weed management. Grants of up to $15,000 are available for community groups to support projects that will increase youth interest, engagement and skills in invasive species management. This grant program has been established to support youth-friendly initiatives with a focus on invasive pest and weed issues in Victoria.

Applications close 5 pm (AEST), 30 September 2019.

Click here to go to the website for more information!

We're pleased to announce our Growing Southern Gippsland farm profile series! Over the next month we will introduce our 12 farmers to you through this video series.

This first video introduces Phillip Island beef and sheep farmer, Bill Cleeland.

Click here to see Bill's video.​

The Growing Southern Gippsland project will continue to showcase Bill Cleeland's farming enterprise in more detail, in particular how Bill is observing how a changing climate is affecting his property and how he is responding to these challenges.

Parks Victoria Consultation Strategy 

Parks Victoria is developing a state-wide Land Management Strategy to guide and inform future planning and decision-making across the parks estate. The Strategy is intended to respond to key challenges - including invasive pest species, climate change, population growth, changing community needs, increased visitation, accessibility requirements and more.

Consultation open: until 29 September 2019

Parks Victoria is inviting communities, groups/networks and stakeholders to provide their feedback on the draft Aspiration and Guiding Principles (https://engage.vic.gov.au/lms) that will form the basis of the Land Management Strategy

To contribute to the consultation: go to https://engage.vic.gov.au/lms

More information: including Frequently Asked Questions go to https://engage.vic.gov.au/lms and for further questions contact Joshua Chikuse (Manager Park Planning, Parks Victoria) via email [email protected].gov.au​

NEW PROJECTS AND PROJECT UPDATES

The Growing Southern Gippsland project is moving forwards at a steady pace, with the next stages underway. The website is making huge progress and field day planning is advanced. 

The project is now being promoted throughout the community, with a recent article published on the RMIT website. 

Click here to read the article.

RMIT University is one of our major project partners and we thank them for promoting this community driven project.

This is an extremely exciting project for Bass Coast and Southern Gippsland. The Bass Coast Landcare Network is privileged to work with project partners RMIT University, Federation University Australia, Bass Coast Shire Council and the South Gippsland Landcare Network.

Growing Southern Gippsland is funded through the Victorian Centre for Climate Change Innovation.

For more information on this exciting project, click here.

Offset your Car Emissions in 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. 

To offset your car emissions with BCLN click here.​​

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.

Click here to find out more about how you can assist this important work.​

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.