Hello to all of our Landcare Members, Partners, Sponsors, and Friends throughout the Bass Coast Landcare Network, and welcome to the February edition of the BCLN Enews.

We hope that any impacts to your properties and enterprises with the recent wild weather and power outages have been minimal, and things are getting back to normal for everyone.

This month's Enews contains a range of events, articles on recent events, general news, grants and more. Grab a beverage, sit back, relax and enjoy! 

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Following our successful Strzelecki Erosion and Landslip Forum last year, Mardan Mirboo North Landcare Group are hosting a field day to inspect structural works completed to ameliorate active gully erosion and landslips on a cattle property. The field day will also be inspecting a second property in the Mirboo North area with a large landslip.   The field-day will be led by erosion expert Kerri Goschnik from Ag Vic.  

For further information and to register click here. 

Bass Coast Shire Council and South Gippsland Shire Council have partnered with non-profit organisation Renew to deliver a series of webinars presented by experts and focused to equip residents with information and tools to reduce their energy bills and live more sustainably. Webinars are free and run for 90 minutes, including question time.

For further information and to register click here. 

Can you imagine the good we could do, if all of Australia came together on one day and took practical action to improve the environment? What a difference we could make! Let's see how many people we can bring together on Sunday 3 March 2024 and make a real impact.

For further information on how to become involved click here. 

You are invited to an exciting farm walk at the Archies Creek property of Ric and Mez Oldham. Ric has been trialing multi species cropping on his farm for a few years with varying succuss.   With some expert advice from Jade Killoran (Healthy Farming Systems) his most recent attempts on some small trial plots has had some success.  Come along and hear from Ric Oldham and Jade Killoran on how to establish Multi Species Crops on Bass Coast Farms.  This will be a fantastic interactive farm walk and we hope to see you all on the day.

For further information and to RSVP click here.

We are delighted to announce that the very popular River Garden Little Kids program will be back this Autumn from late March to early May, with another 8 sessions of fun, themed environmental activities for 3-5 year olds and their adults. Last year's program was booked out with waiting lists for all sessions. Each session will have a different theme, and will consist of story time, an activity in the River Garden, then morning tea and a craft activity in the Bass Hall. This program will be run free of charge to families, using our remaining funding from our VicHealth Grant, in the Reimagining health program, 'River Garden Kids learn, grow and connect with community to produce healthy food'. In the coming weeks once all details are confirmed, we will be opening up bookings for this program. We will  notify our Landcare members by email before advertising to the general public, so watch your inbox for this announcement. We look forward to seeing more families down at the River Garden!

Click here to find out more about the River Garden. 

Over 2 years, Melbourne Water in partnership with Orchard End Farm has been looking at management practices that can be used to reduce problem pasture pests such as Lucerne Flea & Red Legged Earth Mite.  This event will be held in the paddock so participants can look at the multi-species crop, discuss the results from moving away from traditional pasture to diverse cover crops, grazing management of the multi-species and next phase to restore a degraded paddock to a ‘biodiversity haven’ for insectivorous birds and predatory beneficial insects.

For further information click here. 

Mark your calendars - the Victorian Landcare Forum will be held on Wednesday 8, Thursday 9 and Friday 10th May in Bendigo.  Landcare Victoria are busily planning a relevant and engaging program – with more details to be released soon.

Further information can be found by clicking here. 

Bass Coast Landcare Network presents 'Restoring landscape function on your farm'.  Learn how to apply simple strategies to improve productivity and drought resilience. Optimise water cycling and landscape function. 

Day 1: Introduction to restoring landscape function. Learn how to read water processes to interpret landscape health. Day 1 only registrations are available. 

Days 2&3: A skills-based course about harnessing the water cycle to improve landscape function on your property. See first-hand how these solutions can work with your goals. 

If you're interested in being a part of this exciting event, click here. 

GROUP, NETWORK AND GENERAL NEWS

It's been a busy summer for the BCLN Works Crew.  With higher than average rainfall over early summer we have seen weeds such as ragwort continuously germinating, requiring multiple treatments over the season to stop flowering. As a result of this increased demand, we have hired several casual staff to manage the workload. Our works crew has recently welcomed David, Lily-May, Jack and Braydon and they have all slotted into the team seamlessly. We have also launched a new program to integrate our safety processes to better manage hazards, equipment and audits, all designed to keep our staff safe.

For further information on services provided by the works crew click here. 

From the Korumburra Landcare Group - Here at KLG we conducted a member survey in 2023. The feedback from our members was invaluable and included several good ideas. One of these, was to propagate our own plants. Growing our own plants is literally a “value add” to our fundamental Landcare objectives. It also offers our members the opportunity to actively involve themselves in Landcaring activities throughout the year with a commitment of time as their lifestyle allows.  As a result, 10,000 plus seedlings across a range of 22 species have been propagated and are being nurtured for this 2024 planting season, a great success.

For more information on the Korumburra Landcare Group click here. 

If your group has some interesting stories to share, we would love to include them in the next edition of our Enews, please email to [email protected]  

Small Network Grants are now available to community organisations in regional and rural Australia to develop and deliver one-off events or initiatives to strengthen community networks and capabilities that build drought preparedness.  Grants are available across two rounds in :
– Stream 1: Grants up to a maximum of $20,000; or
– Stream 2: Grants up to a maximum of $50,000 (dependent on location).

For more information click here. 

Blue Carbon Lab is making a call pout to all Australian Coastal Landholders and invite you to participate in a nation-wide survey that could shape the future of coastal wetland restoration in Australia.  Many coastal wetlands - such as mangroves and saltmarshes occur on private properties, meaning that landholders can play a critical role in the conservation and restoration of these ecosystems.

If you wish to share your insights and participate in the survey, click here.​

Improve your farm business and manage the impacts of drought and a changing climate. The Farm Business Resilience (FBR) Program is supporting farmers to develop the knowledge and skills they need to improve their farm business and be better equipped to manage the impacts of drought and a changing climate. The FBR program supports farmers to improve skills and management practices.  Check out the videos and downloads available at the link below. 

For further information click here. 

Bass Coast Adult Learning of offering a Certificate 3 in Horticulture Course.  This course covers units such as plant nutrition, plant establishment, landscape maintenance, and coordinating work site activities. If you would like further information regarding this course call 03 5672 3115 or click here. 

We are rolling out our 2024 school farms tours as part of the 'Bass Coast Secondary Schools Stepping onto Farms' project.  Pictured are Bass Coast College Students visiting Bill and Amanda Cleeland in Surf Beach, Phillip Island, learning about their beef farming operations. The project is working with up to 15 Landcare farmers across Bass Coast who represent a variety of farm enterprises to host up to 40 tours for secondary school students. Students will see first-hand what life is like working in agricultural roles and learn about the pathways to finding future employment in similar roles.  Thanks so much for our recent farm hosts who hosted groups of students from Bass Coast College and shared their insights and expertise.

For further information on Bass Coast Landcare Network Education programs, click here. 

The milder than usual summer is definitely agreeing with our pumpkins, squash, beans, zucchini and other summer veggies. After a slow start from small plants in December, to trailing vines covering all of our planter boxes and lower paths, some good-sized fruit is developing. With small Corrections crews attending fortnightly from the Department of Justice, we are keeping on top of the mowing, but the weeds are another story! If anyone has a few hours to spare to get your hands dirty and help out with weeding, we would love to hear from you. The River Garden will host a series of workshops this year as part of the Council funded Garden Gems series. Trainers from Bass Coast Adult Education's Horticulture team will be delivering some great sessions so look out for future emails outlining these once we have all the details. 

We are also delighted to have our very popular River Garden Kids program back this Autumn (see post above) for 3-5 year olds and their families. Once the final details are confirmed, emails announcing the opening of bookings will be sent to our Landcare members first, before advertising to the general public, so watch your inbox for these to get a much sought after spot. We look forward to seeing you down at the River Garden!

For more information on the River Garden and to sign up as a volunteer to get notifications of upcoming events and happenings, click here. 

If you feel passionate about the environment and want to contribute to action on climate change by reducing the impact of your car on our planet, why not consider becoming a part of our ‘Capturing Carbon for a biodiverse Bass Coast’ program? Head to our web page at the link below and simply click on your car's size to make a tax-deductible donation, so we can plant indigenous plants in biodiverse plantings across Bass coast on your behalf. These plantings will increase habitat and important wildlife corridor connections while capturing carbon from the atmosphere. All your friends and family will also see your complimentary car sticker showing your commitment to the Bass Coast environment and climate action.

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.​ We do this by supporting community groups to work in their local area to add value to their conservation efforts, encourage broader community ownership and participation and by working in partnership with other land managers. We work to help protect native plants and animals in Bass Coast’s most ecologically important landscapes. Your tax-deductible contribution, no matter how small, or by leaving a bequest in your will, 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.

The Bass Coast Landcare Network would like to acknowledge and pay our respects to the Traditional Land Owners within the Network area, The Bunurong and Boon Wurrung people. We also recognise the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and organisations in Land and Natural Resource Management.