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

This month's Enews contains a range of events, articles on recent events, general news, grants and more! We hope you enjoy this edition.

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

Australia’s favourite citizen science event, The Aussie Bird Count, will return between the 16th and 22nd of October. You don’t need to be an expert birder to take part — all you need is a little enthusiasm! 

Click here for more information and to register.

We are super excited to have had such a great response to this new program, some sessions are booked out and onto waiting list only, and some sessions have a few spaces left, so be quick to book if you want to join the fun! Explore the natural world in fun guided activities for 3-5 year olds, at the River Garden and Hall in Bass. Over 8x Friday mornings starting October 20th, we will cover themes including, Beautiful Butterflies, Wiggly Worms, Wonderful Water Bugs, Super Seeds and Plants, Australian Animals and more. Children will get to take something home from each session, be it a special hand painted pot, an insect hotel or plants, and a free morning tea is included. Thanks to funding from VicHealth, this is a free program, however bookings are essential to cover our catering and materials needs. Please note that adult supervision and participation is required alongside the kids, so if you are a parent, grandparent or carer and are looking for fun activities to do with the kids we would love to see you at the River Garden Little Kids program. 

Please click here for bookings and more information.

Bass Coast Landcare Network is looking at a potential change to our financial year from July 1 to June 30 Financial year to a January 1 to December 30 Financial year, to better align our activities (the planting season) with reporting. You can learn more about the proposed change at the online meeting. Date and time: Monday the 23rd of October 730pm via teams. For teams link RSVP to [email protected]

Due to circumstances outside of our control, the previously advertised River Garden Blitz for 28th of October has been cancelled. We hope to host another River Garden Blitz event in November. Once our speakers and activities are confirmed, we will be advertising this through our Enews, Facebook and River Garden web page link below. We apologise for any inconvenience that this may have caused, thank all of our volunteers for your continued support, and hope to see you next month at the River Garden. 

For more details of future events at the River Garden click here.

The Phillip Island Community orchard is celebrating its 10 year  Anniversary.  Invitations are extended for all to come along and enjoy the special guest speakers, entertainment, produce and refreshments.  This is a great opportunity to visit the Orchard and enjoy it in its spring glory.  Gold coin entry donation. Raffle drawn on the day.  All events are free of charge but registrations are preferred.  

For further information and to register for specific events click here.​

What is Permaculture? Learn about the history, ethics and principles of Permaculture. Whether you are a complete beginner, wish to refresh your knowledge or just work out if Permaculture is for you, this weekend course will send you home with a head full of new ideas for your own plot.
Course fee includes workshops on hot composting techniques, no-dig gardening workshop, seed saving and a garden design component. For more information and to book, please email [email protected]​ or message via Facebook.

Click here to view the event on Facebook for further information.

You are invited to this exciting farm walk event focusing on ‘Revegetation for beneficial insects on farms’. This is a follow up event to our recently successful farm walk on the Benefits of Biodiversity on Farms.  Karen Thomas from Melbourne Water who has worked with beneficial insects on farms will be our guest speaker for the day.  This will be a fantastic interactive walk and we hope to see you all on the day.

Click here for all event and RSVP details. 

You are invited to the Bass Coast Landcare Network’s Annual General Meeting on Saturday the 18^th of November at the Bass Hall from 10am. It's important now more than ever, that we are all looking after our mental health and wellbeing, so this year we will have Will Hams, of Founder of Liminal wellbeing as our guest speaker. Sharing his Journey from AFL footballer to Wellbeing advocate, focusing on the many benefits of looking after our wellbeing, we will all be inspired and encouraged at this fantastic social event. Lunch will be provided, make sure you provide any dietary requirements when you RSVP via the link below.

Click here to book your place.

You are invited to an exciting farm walk at the Kongwak property of Lee and Stephen Storti. The farm is managed as an organically certified beef and pig farming enterprise.  Peter Ronalds from Inspired Ag Solutions will be joining us on the day to contribute his knowledge and expertise.  This will be a fantastic interactive farm walk and we hope to see you all on the day.  

Click here for all event and RSVP details.

GROUP AND NETWORK NEWS

We would like to congratulate one of our wonderful staff members, Lisa Wangman, on 20 years in working for Landcare! Currently working as our Education, Training and Communications Manager, Lisa has held a range of positions over the past two decades. When asked what the best part of her role is, she says, "I think my favourite part of my very mixed role would have to be to take school students out on fun environmental activities. After all, they are our future custodians, if they don't love their landscape and want to care for it, who will?" We appreciate Lisa's hard work and dedication over the years.

Click here to learn more about Lisa's Environmental Detectives program.

Recently, the crew at Ecoliv alongside the BCLN NRM team came together to plant 1500 plants at a Biolink site at a property in Grantville. The EcoLiv team, many who hadn’t planted before made light work of the planting which was followed up by a lovely BBQ lunch. Many thanks to EcoLiv and their staff for the assistance and we look forward to growing this partnership into the future.

If your Business or organisation is interested in some exciting sponsorship opportunities with BCLN click here. 

Spring is well underway and it is time to control weeds before they set seed. 3Creeks Landcare are looking for suitable sites to host our new weed control signs - a gentle reminder to our neighbors to check for weeds. If you have a property with frontage on a busy road and would like to discuss hosting one of our signs, please contact [email protected]

For more information about controlling weeds on our website, click here.

Have you seen a Koala in the Bass Coast?  The Gippsland Threatened Species Action Group (GTSAG) and Bass Coast Landcare Network are working on a project to protect this threatened species in the local area and the first step is to identify their whereabouts.  They are most commonly found around the Inverloch and Cape Paterson townships, however sometimes they can be found right up into the Bass hills and the Strzelecki's.
If you have seen, heard of or taken a photo of a Koala locally you can help us out by clicking here to share your information with the GTSAG.​ 

Recently the team at Beveridge Williams assisted in planting 3,000 plants at a property in Kilcunda. Once the planting was completed, the team was treated to a delicious BBQ on the clifftops overlooking the ocean. We would like to thank Beveridge Williams for their ongoing support and sponsorship of Bass Coast Landcare Network through the Bronze Sponsorship program!

For more exciting sponsorship opportunities please click here. 

Tank Hill Reserve in Wonthaggi was once was a carpet of Kikuyu grass. An area on the northern side of Tank Hill has some gorgeous trees but the Kikuyu was preventing anything else establishing. The Wonthaggi Urban Landcare Group​ has worked with the BCLN works crew to control the  Kikuyu with some fantastic results.   Using a combination of spraying, manual weeding and revegetation of underrepresented plants the areas biodiversity is vastly improved. It is hard to believe that the sandy ridge was quarried in the 1970’s to build roads and footpaths. The quarrying ended in the early 1980’s and the hill was no more. Revegetation began soon afterwards.  The group will continue to prioritise this site for future works.

Click here for more information about the Wonthaggi Urban group activities. 

Shout out to the Australian Plant Society - South Gippsland Group for their donation to BCLN, allowing us to plant 5,000 plants along Screw Creek, at a property in Inverloch. Thanks to South Gippsland Conservation Society for inviting us to join their Koala Information Session on the day and for helping out with the planting. A great day out with lots of great people!

Click here for information on how donations to the BCLN Public Fund to go towards great programs across our landscape. ​

GRANTS, TRAINING, INFORMATION, RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR LANDHOLDERS

We are excited to announce the release of some fantastic Giant Gippsland Earthworm resources. Produced as part of the “Enhanced Knowledge and Protection of the Giant Gippsland Earthworm” project these resources include a habitat identification guide and habitat protection guidelines. Also available is a Giant Gippsland Earthworm multimedia interactive resource which encourages users to go on a journey of discovery about the Giant Gippsland Earthworm. This project received grant funding from the Australian Government.

Click here to delve deeper into the world of the Giant Gippsland Earthworm.

We are pleased to announce successful funding for a new project, Becoming fire wise in Bass Coast. The project is funded by the Australian Governments Preparing Australian Communities program in partnership with the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife (FNPW). The Fire Wise project will engage community members and local groups from across the Bass Coast Landcare Network area. It aims to improve, share, test and demonstrate our understanding of how numerous species of indigenous plants can be retained or planted in strategic locations around the built environment, to better protect our assets and enhance our local biodiversity. For further information on this project please email Joel Geoghegan on [email protected]

PHOTO CAPTION:  Acacia melanoxylon (Australian Blackwood) is common throughout the Bass Coast Landcare Network area. Like many native trees, the tree is adapted to bushfires.   Less well known is its ability to slow the movement of bushfires, providing a barrier which might help stop fires from spreading in fire wise farms and gardens.

To find out more about this exciting new project click here for our full story. 

We have had a spring blitz in the River Garden with lots of mowing and weeding in preparation for hosting our first River Garden Little Kids session on Friday 20th October. Nearly all sessions are booked, with waiting lists activated! We are looking forward to showing the next generation some of the things they can do to look after the land through these fun interactive sessions. Work experience students from Bass Coast College have helped us to finish off filling and planting our new metal wicking beds, donated with thanks to the Cape Community Farm. We look forward to 4x sessions this term with Bass Coast College Science classes, where they will plant out the beans, spaghetti squash, tomatoes, melons and other veggie seedlings that they sowed for us back in term 3. We have also prepared an area around our swale beds for planting out a new Butterfly garden in the coming weeks, to increase diversity, provide food plants to attract butterflies and to attract other beneficial insects to take care of any pests in our gardens. We will be hosting another volunteer Blitz & learning day in November with news to follow on this once all details are confirmed. 

Capturing Carbon for a Biodiverse Bass Coast - In local planting projects!

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, 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.