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

We have lots of interesting upcoming events,  articles and more for you to enjoy over a cuppa or a cool drink. We have just about covered every topic to do with Landcare in this issue from weeds, rabbits and deer, to regenerative agriculture, carbon neutrality, climate change, mangroves, landscape restoration, and seeds, as well as updates on our projects, grants and new staff roles. We hope you enjoy this month's edition of the Enews!

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UPCOMING EVENTS 

The Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS) and Foundation for Rabbit-Free Australia are hosting an online Rabbit R&D Update on Monday, March 21, from 1-3pm. Themes for the Update are rabbit bio-control and awareness raising, with emphasis on:

• Environmental and economic benefits of rabbit control
• How RHDV is working and implications for RHDV-K5 releases
• Raising awareness of rabbit problems and gaining support for control programs.

Anyone interested in raising awareness, seeking support or investment for rabbit control programs, planning or managing control programs at any scale, or advising landholders, will find something of value in the Update. Following this webinar, Rabbit-Free Phillip Island are looking to organise a community meeting with various speakers about the devastating rabbit problem and what can be done on Phillip Island.

Click here to read more info, to view the flyer and to register.

The combined NSW & VIC Weeds Conference showcases the latest research and ideas for managing the establishment, impact and spread of weeds. The Conference is regarded as the premier event to discuss weeds and related vegetation and production issues. A great opportunity to to network, get training, and stay at the cutting edge of weeds management.
The conference will be held from the 21-24th of March at the Albury Entertainment Centre.
Click here for further information​

Join us at the Kardella South property of respected regenerative agriculture consultant, Declan McDonald, who will showcase his property and its regenerative agriculture journey.  ​Declan will discuss the transition from leased pea farming to regeneratively managed pastures all through the lens of agroecosystem design.

Click here for more information including the event flyer and booking details​

GROUP AND NETWORK NEWS

7kW of PV panels and 7kW of batteries have been installed at the Works Crew Depot and Nursery, making energy usage clean and green as well as lowering power bills. The batteries have the added benefit of providing a power backup for the Nursery irrigation pump during extended power outages. The installers are also developing a proposal to allow remote surveillance of power generation, battery levels, water storage and flow, so any problems with the irrigation can be picked up early.

Click here for a range of links on Sustainable Living​

Future Homes and Farms for 2040 is a program of online and in person workshops and video resources which is designed to educate, inspire and empower people to make changes to their lifestyle, homes and farms to reduce the impacts of climate change. The page on our site has just gone live with 16 videos of workshops and fantastic forays into individual homes, gardens and farms, showing how local people are adapting, enabling information sharing and building of community resilience so successful, supported climate adaptation can take place. These were produced over the last year and a half, with support from DELWP and Bass Coast Shire Council, and there will also be more workshops and video resources coming up this year!

Click here to check out the resources and upcoming event notices!​

In December 2021, 24 Grade 4 students from Bass Valley Primary School headed down to Queensferry to plant 800 mangrove seeds! It was a muddy job, but the kids didn't mind! The students were accompanied by teachers as well as Jye and Luke from BCLN, Dr Sophie Pryor and Ben Cleveland from OzFish,  PPWCMA representative Andrew Morrison and mangrove curator Jason Noonan. Neil Daly has written a fantastic article for the Bass Coast Post on the project, which is sure to inspire you to take a closer look at mangroves next time you're strolling along the mud flats.

Click here to read the story!

In mid-February, OzFish hosted their 'Western Port Fish Habitat Night' to engage and educate local fisherman on the importance of protecting and restoring seagrass, mangroves, bryozoan and shellfish reefs in Western Port. Our Natural Resource Management Project Coordinator & Landcare Facilitator, Jye Andersen, presented on the importance of mangroves and our current 'Reel Big Fish' Project. Thank you to OzFish for putting on a great night and to those who attended and presented. It is very exciting to see the local community wanting to engage in protecting our marine environment and we look forward to getting people involved with MORE mangrove plantings next Summer!

Click here to learn more about our Restoration & Revegetation projects

We are pleased to welcome Joel Kilgour into his new role as Natural Resources Project Officer. We asked Joel what he thinks of his new role.

’After working on the Works Crew I am super excited to start this new position at Landcare. I have always wanted to contribute to something larger than myself and working to benefit my local environment is a dream come true. In my role as NRM Project Officer I look forward to engaging with the community through tree planting days with the community and school groups. A major aspect of my position is the facilitation of the Kongwak Hills Landcare Group where I will help the group manage projects. While I will mostly be managing revegetation and weed control projects, I will be splitting my time with the Works Crew so I will get to work on both the management and works side of projects.'

Click here to learn more about Natural Resource Management in Bass Coast​

An exciting new program to reduce the impacts of rabbits on Phillip Island has begun this year. With foxes eradicated and long-term feral cat program established, rabbits are the next feral animal in the crosshairs. Landcare, landholders, community groups, Phillip Island Nature Parks, and Bass Coast Shire Council will be Teaming Up to Tackle Rabbits. Furthermore, with three years of funding secured to bolster our efforts, long term effective rabbit control on Phillip Island becomes an attainable goal!
Click here to read all about the project​

The Victorian Deer Control Community Network (VDCCN) was recently established to build knowledge and capacity, raise awareness in the community and identify opportunities for collaboration to substantially reduce the impact of feral deer. There are currently more than one hundred members sharing their knowledge, experiences and improving their control measures. The VDCCN is preparing a database of current feral deer control projects and would like to hear from you if you have had experience of deer damage or are currently undertaking deer control in your area.  Please send a brief message to Peter Jacobs, Deer Project Officer (Victoria) [email protected] and he will contact you to discuss your issues and offer suggestions as to how they can help, or click here to become a VDCCN member.​

You may be aware of the Distinctive Area Landscape Project (DAL) being undertaken by the State Government. This has significant implications for our area as the whole of the Bass Coast was recognised as a Distinctive Area recently. The draft DAL has just been released and submissions may be made up until Friday 29 April. 

Click here for more information and to have your say!

South Gippsland Landcare Network are excited to be getting started with their Younger Veterans project! This project will consist of 10 sessions run monthly across South Gippsland, including:

• Putting out remote cameras to monitor wildlife and pest animals
• Tree planting
• Weeding in bushland areas

If you are a veteran (or family member), or know someone who is, please consider sharing this and helping spread the word about it. See further info at the link below, or contact Cassie at [email protected] if you have any questions. 

Click here to read more about this OR Click here to express your interest​

GRANTS, TRAINING, INFORMATION, RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR LANDHOLDERS

Are you an irrigator with a bright idea and would like funds to put it to the test? The Irrigation Demonstration Project is now open to all irrigators in central Gippsland. Funding is available for a range of activities ranging from paper-based planning through to the purchasing of equipment and monitoring and evaluation with $54,000 available in total which will be split into at least two projects.

Applications close March 18th. Click here to apply!​

It’s not too late to enter Landcarer's $500 giveaway to support an environmental project.  For your chance to WIN, just invite a mate or two to check out Landcarer.com.au. Then, comment on this story on Landcarer between now and the 18th of March 2022, and you’ll be in the running. Landcarer is  the place where you can collaborate, connect and learn with like-minded people who care for our natural environment; anywhere, anytime.

Click here to head to the Landcarer homepage

Ever wondered about the value of the native seed and how you can get best bang for your buck when using native seeds in your Landcare work? Listen to Dr Lucy Commander from the Australian Network for Plant Conservation explain why something as tiny as a native seed can pack a lot of punch when it comes to Landcare. This video presentation first appeared at the 2021 National Landcare Conference.

Click here to view the video​

The River Garden has had quite a few visitors over the past month, with the River Garden Blitz Day on the 12th of February, the Bass Coast Edible Gardens Weekend on the 19th and 20th, which saw up to 150 people through the garden and more recently the March River Garden Blitz on Saturday 12th. Our awesome Interchange volunteers have been so helpful as usual, and we also had our River Garden Blitz volunteers doing some summer pruning on the espaliered fruit trees as well as some weeding and lots of planting of Autumn seedlings. The next River Garden Blitz will be held in May... stay tuned for details!

Click here to see how you can get involved with our emerging River Garden Community!

Offset Your Vehicle Emissions for 2022 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.