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

It's been an interesting few weeks, with yet another lockdown, and more recently wild weather, power outages and loss of phone signal! We hope that everybody has managed to stay safe and warm in what has been a crazy start to winter. 

We have some great updates for you... time to relax, put your feet up and enjoy this month's BCLN Enews.

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

UPCOMING EVENTS 

The Phillip Island Landcare Group's Bunny Boiler Dinner event, set to be held on the 2nd of July, has unfortunately been postponed due to Covid. Due to the latest lockdown, the Group can't be 100% sure that things will be back to normal come early July, so are erring on the side of caution and postponing it for now. Fear not, as they will let you know as soon as an alternate date has been arranged!

Click here to head to Phillip Island Landcare Group's page, where you'll be kept up-to-date with all of the Group's activities!

The Next River Garden Blitz 10th July - Join the River Garden Community!

The next River Garden Blitz Day will take place from 9:30am on Saturday 10th of July, where the focus will be on setting up our VanHut as a more functional volunteer meeting point and getting the rest of the winter veg in the ground, due to delays with frost affecting our new seedlings before they could be planted at past Blitz days.  We are also organising a special guest speaker with more details to come soon. If you would like to stay informed about all things River Garden, please click the link below and register your interest.

Click here to find out more about the River Garden and sign up to join our River Garden Community.

When it comes to protecting our natural environment, Phillip Island’s coastal groups have a wealth of knowledge to share and inspire to aid in maintaining these precious areas. Throughout July there will be a full month of activities to be involved in. Meet and learn from these amazing groups who have a wealth of knowledge to share with the community to help understand local flora and fauna, pests and invasive weeds.
They would love for you to get involved... An open invitation is extended to the community to join in and continue the great work that has been set in motion by the coastal groups.

Click here for all of the dates, and to view the flyer.

Landcare Webinar Series on the Landcarer Platform

The Landcare Australia Webinar Series is continuing into 2021 and is hosted on the online community platform, Landcarer. Hosted by a facilitator, speakers in the webinars are presenting content ideas to inspire people and provide tools that people can apply with their groups in their local community to manage the environmental issue in their patch, and support community resilience. Here are just a few of the exciting talks coming up in the 2021 Landcare Webinar Series:

Natural resource management – traditional methods to modern innovation | 24 Jun

The Power of Landcare Partnerships | 29 Jul

Australian Beef and Sheep Sustainability | 2 Sep

Click here to subscribe to the webinar series.

Planning is underway for the North East Landcare Forum to be held in Beechworth in Spring. Please ‘save the date’ for September 10-12^th 2021.
LVI Forums promote peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and learning both through formal sessions and informal networking opportunities. The forums also provide input to LVI’s policy and advocacy work via both structured mechanisms such as the Members Council meeting and less formally via communication between LVI members, staff, Committee and stakeholders. The forums are held in different regions to showcase each region’s achievements and so Landcarers from across the state can experience the diversity of Landcare and learn from and with Landcarers from other parts of the state.

GROUP AND NETWORK NEWS

We hope your properties have not been impacted too much with the wild winds and rain we have had lately. If you do have branches on your fences or need a hand with general storm clean-up, our Works Crew are ready to assist you. Smaller scale tree lopping and general chainsaw work are all part of the many services offered by our crew. Remember, any profit generated by the Works Crew is used to support the Network's activities.
Click here and scroll down to request a quote or call the team on 0437000990 for urgent enquiries. Stay safe everyone!!

From the French Island 'Off the Grid' Newsletter

Unfortunately, due to ill-health Judith Metcher has decided it is time to step down as President, leaving a great legacy. She will remain active as Nursery Manager.
We think now is the right time to thank Judith for all the effort she has put in, running Landcare, taking it to the next stage, in an exciting new home – ready for a new era. Thanks to you Jude, the future for French Island Landcare looks rosy and native.

Click here to find out more about the French Island Landcare Group.

Local landowner and Landcare member Chris Miller of Bena has been working with the Bass Coast Landcare Network and the West Gippsland CMA to remove masses of huge Hawthorn trees from his creek line, then revegetating it with Indigenous plants to improve biodiversity, water quality and reduce erosion. Like many landowners, when Chris first started out he had no idea where to begin... now he is on track to having a beautiful healthy creek line... Click here to read his story!

If you are in the Bass Coast area and would like to do your own Landcare project, click here to find out more about the process.

Cultural Heritage Training in Kilcunda

BCLN Staff and Landcare Group members were privileged to participate in Cultural Heritage training recently with representatives of the Bunurong Land Council, organised by West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority. At the Powlett River we were treated to a midden tour and on the property of Clive Hollins in Kilcunda we were shown artefacts, with many historical facts and stories shared, and many questions answered.  
BCLN signed a Memorandum of understanding with The Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (BLCAC) in late 2020, where we worked together to establish our commitment to a mutually beneficial relationship based on the goals and aspiration of both organisations in natural resource management and sustainable agriculture. BCLN highly values engagement with BLCAC to improve our knowledge of cultural heritage on country and recognises the importance of working together on projects to ensure we do not disturb the cultural values of sites. 

Click here to learn more about the Bunurong Land Council

Phillip Island Landcare Group Welcomes Members with Home Garden Visits

An extension of the past Urban Landcare site visit offering, PILG is again partnering with Westernport Water to educate Island residents on sustainable gardening practices. This time, at a one-hour visit, two volunteers will share their sustainable gardening knowledge and recommend beneficial resources. There is also a little showbag of goodies and information including free indigenous plants for members that take up the option of a visit to their homes.

Recently a keen group of PILG Volunteers met up for training in conducting the visits, exploring topics such as indigenous plants, weeds, habitat gardening and garden design with Lisa Wangman, our Education, Training and Communications Manager. Following this was a session with Westernport Water Staff, Meg and Katrina, where volunteers learned useful waterwise gardening tips to share at visits.

If you are a member of the Phillip Island Landcare Group and would like to take up the offer of a Home Garden visit, where you can meet the lovely volunteers, get your free showbag, and find out more about how you can get involved with the PILG, click the link below.

What does it take to restore bald, cleared hills to biodiverse, forested corridors? One family wanted to know. The latest edition of Landcare in Focus magazine features a fantastic article on the Russo family's revegetation project with BCLN in the Woolamai hills. This project has been BCLN's biggest, and there's still work to be done!

Click here to read the magazine (article on page 5)

Click here to view a video on this project!

GRANTS, TRAINING, INFORMATION AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR LANDHOLDERS

Applications are now open for the Nuffield Australia Scholarship Program, 'a unique program that awards primary producers with a life-changing scholarship to travel and study an agricultural topic of choice.'
If you have a passion for farming, consider taking this opportunity to head overseas and learn from the best.

Click here for all of the details and to apply!​

Farming Together are thrilled to launch their new podcast!

In this series, your host, Farming Together Program Manager Amanda Scott, has handpicked several of the most illuminating collaborative stories from the 730 farmer, fisher, and forestry groups that were supported during the Farming Together Pilot Program. You will hear how groups worked collaboratively and regeneratively to build stronger, more resilient farming communities in the face of increasingly complex environmental, economic and social challenges.

Click here to learn more and subscribe!​

Many Landcare groups make valuable voluntary contributions to the management of public land.  This might be a focus of their volunteering, as is the case for the many ‘Friends of’ groups. Parks Victoria managed land might also be part of broader landscape scale projects. Parks Victoria have released a new ‘Volunteering in Parks Manual’ that establishes new requirements for volunteering on Parks Victoria land.

You can find out more about it here!

If you have an interest in weather, The Fast Break is a great newsletter to subscribe to. The Fast Break details oceanic and atmospheric climate driver activity over the last month and summarises three month model predictions for the Pacific and Indian Oceans, rainfall and temperature for Victoria.

Click here to check it out!

We are very excited to announce that our mangrove restoration works will be expanding over the next 2 years with additional funding through the Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority (PPWCMA) ‘REEL BIG FISH’ Project. The project aims to increase fish populations in Westernport through re-establishment of mangrove habitat.

We will be looking to broaden our scope of sites around the Bass Coast and engage with a wider diversity of community and school groups to implement the project. Activities will include mangrove seed collection, preparation, planting, monitoring and educational activities.

If you would like to get involved, please contact the project lead, Jye Andersen at [email protected]

This project is supported by PPWCMA, through funding from the Australian Government’s Fisheries Habitat Restoration Program.

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

Just as the past summer veggie growing season was uncharacteristic, with more rainfall, less hot days, and slow ripening times, it’s looking like this season will come with its own set of challenges, this time, early and heavy frosts. ‘I’ve never seen frost like this here over the past few years of growing seedlings at the River Garden’ said Collen from Coll’s plants back in May. Off we all go to get some frost protection…

Despite the challenges, activity continues, especially in our ‘All access Garden bed area’ which is slowly taking shape. With the 8th of May River Garden Blitz Day postponed to the 22nd, we were lucky to get a Blitz Day in before the most recent lockdown. A small but effective team of volunteers learned in a very ‘hands on’ way, how to fill garden beds in the no-dig style, layering up with alternate layers of greens (nitrogen) and browns (carbon) materials. We used whatever we had on hand, including spoiled hay compost, leaves, wattle prunings, bagged manures, spent summer veggie plants, lucerne hay and straw. We then planted out a snow pea crop in compost pockets on top of the newly filled no dig beds, where our mix of greens and browns will naturally compost, creating a bit of extra heat to help with germination and seedling growth. We also had a visit from Horticulture Certificate students from Bass Coast Adult Education and Learning Centre, who expertly pruned, reshaped, and tied back our espalier fruit trees in the swale garden beds. What a fantastic result when jobs needing to be done can also be learning activities for students!

Unfortunately, due to the big storm last week, there was no power to run the pump for the toilets, so we had to cancel the Saturday 12th June Blitz Day. So now we look forward to the next Blitz Day on July 10th, where we will also be teaming our activity up with a guest speaker soon to be announced, watch this space!

Click here to find out about all things River Garden.

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.