Happy National Volunteer Week!

Bass Coast Landcare Network would like to say Happy National Volunteer Week and a big thank you to all our hardworking, dedicated members and volunteers. From the tree planters, coffee makers and BBQ cookers, to the Committee and Board members and all of the people working hard on their land to make a difference, keep up the great work!

Best of the Powlett – From the top to the bottom – a Catchment Tour

Spots still available! Join us on Friday 19^th of May to tour some of the best Landcare projects from the top to the bottom of the Powlett catchment. Starting early we will visit 11 sites including a cool temperate rainforest gully on the property of Paul Speirs (pictured), Prom Country Cheese and the Mouth of the Powlett River. This tour aims to bring together people from our own and neighboring regions to look at some of the best examples of on ground Landcare works to inspire others to action. It is hoped that this will be the start of many similar days in other regions to share knowledge and experience with each other.

Click here for more information, flyer and registration page.  

Walk the Island this May

The Phillip Island Landcare Group has organised a series of walks aimed to explore Phillip Island.  Over four Saturdays in May you can spend time with fellow walkers completing a circumference of our beautiful Island home. Walks vary in length from 12 to 18km and are suitable for active persons.  This is a free event but registration is essential. 

Click here for walk information and to book your place.​

Diversification and Innovation Bus Tour

In partnership with the French Island Landcare Group, come and join us on Monday 22nd May for our exciting one day bus tour to Peppermint Ridge Farm and participate in a training bush foods workshop.  After lunch we will be visiting the property of respected agronomist, Chris Alenson, for a tour of his Macclesfield property.

Click here for more details and to book your place​

The Bunny Boiler is on again!

The popular ‘Bunny Boiler Challenge’ annual fundraising dinner for the Phillip Island Landcare Group is back in 2017 bigger and better than ever! Get your rabbit recipes ready for Friday 2nd June. Renowned and aspiring chefs and home cooks will be presenting their best rabbit recipes in competition for prizes and local esteem.This event will again be hosted by the Cape Kitchen and includes a technical presentation on rabbits and their impact on our natural landscape followed by local entertainment. This event has been getting bigger every year so book your place today to avoid missing out.

Click here for event and chefs information and to book your place.

Community Tree Planting 2017

Due to dry conditions across the Bass Coast Landcare Network our annual Community Tree planting days are not scheduled to take place until July this year. We are working on finalising dates with our landholders so look out in the June edition of this E-news for a flyer with a schedule of all dates and locations across the network. 

Click here to go to our Natural Resource Management Page and see more about how you can get involved in tree planting on your property.​

Bass Valley – Luminous Streets light up

500 participants, 600 artworks and over 800 light sources powered by 300 batteries and a whole lot of electrical wiring - what a mammoth effort! Luminous streets opened up on Saturday 8^th of April in five night time galleries with food, entertainment and connecting busses for audiences to explore through the towns of Grantville, Pioneer Bay, Tenby Point, Corinella and Coronet Bay. The galleries were illuminated for five subsequent nights for visitors to explore the unique installations placed in trees, on the ground, in the water and on exisiting structures. Thank you to all the artists who created the galleries, all the participants who made artworks in them and all the hundreds of people who came to see it all.

Click on this link to see an amazing video capturing this event.

The Soilkee Renovator in action

 In partnership with the South Gippsland Landcare Network our Soilkee Demonstration field day on the 21st of April was a huge success. Great information sharing and new learnings made the day enjoyable for all those who attended. A big thank you to Ron Barnacle for hosting the day at his property and to the operator of the Soilkee, Neils Olsen, for his valuable demonstration and for sharing his insightful knowledge. Thanks also to all those involved in making the day a success.

Click here for a video of the Soilkee renovator in action.​

Fabulous Fungi Day

An incredible day was had in Archies Creek exploring the life of fungi on Sunday 7^th of June. Many different samples of various fungi species were on display and discussed in detail on the day. All participants were enthralled with the diversity and variety of this little-known kingdom. Our inspirational guest speaker Alison Pouliot also spoke extensively of the ecological role of fungi and how essential it is to the health of our forests and food plants as well as giving us some clues on how not to die when foraging and eating mushrooms! Thank you to Alison and to Paul Speirs for hosting our afternoon foraging adventure.

Click here to read more about Alison Pouliot's future workshops and activities held all across Australia.​

Bass Coast at the Green Carpet Awards​

Twenty-five local Landcare individuals and groups were recognised on Sunday, 30 April at the beautiful Heyfield Wetlands for their outstanding contribution to the environment as part of West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority’s (WGCMA) Green Carpet Awards. These Awards are held every two years to honour and celebrate local Landcare legends who have led the way in improving Gippsland’s environment. 

The Bass Coast Award Winners were:

• Korumburra Landcare Group
• Powlett Project
• 3 Creeks Landcare Group
• Bass Coast Landcare Network’s works crew
• Environmental Detectives

For more information on this great event at the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority website click here.

Phillip Island - Group activities

Action Planning - The Phillip Island Landcare Group has commenced development of a new Action Plan.  This plan will set the group’s strategic direction and activities for the next five years.  It will identify the group’s Vision, Values and Priority Objectives and will set a series of Actions required to meet the Objectives.  The new plan will replace the Phillip Island Landcare Group Action Plan 2012-2016.

Revegetation Monitoring Project - The Phillip Island Landcare Group is undertaking a project to determine the effectiveness of its revegetation efforts. The project will engage the Bass Coast Landcare Network to undertake field sampling to determine the success rate of planting activities, the effectiveness of revegetation techniques including wallaby exclusion, priorities for additional works at previous revegetation sites including infill planting, weed control and other maintenance and to determine future best practice for revegetation.

Click here to check out the Phillip Island Landcare Group page on the BCLN website. ​​

Land capability and capacity pilot opportunity

Are you a property owner who owns at least 10 hectares? Do you want to know more about what your property can produce? Do you want to set up multiple income streams to ensure your business is more resilient? This is your opportunity! The Bass Coast Landcare Network is now seeking expressions of Interest from landowners. This pilot project will work with one Bass Coast property through a detailed assessment process to determine its potential to support diverse and innovative income streams.   Expert knowledge and advice will be engaged to produce a property report followed by a property based field day.
For details on how to register your interest please click here    ​

Green Army coming to Bass Coast - Apply for your spot on the team now

Are you aged between 17 and 24, an Australian citizen or permanent resident and would like to be a part of a team that will make a real difference to the environment in your local community?

The Green Army is an Australian Government initiative open to young people including Indigenous Australians, school leavers, gap year students, graduates and job seekers who are looking for employment to develop skills, undertake training and gain experience in the delivery of conservation.

The Bass Coast project will work with the Holden Proving Ground to install predator proof fencing at the 880Ha site to protect threatened species, as well as establish 25,000 plants to create biolinks in the Bass and Powlett catchments.

Click here to find out more and apply for your place on the Bass Coast Team.

Solarising experiments at the River Garden 

Have you driven past Bass lately and wondered what the plastic was doing on the river garden site? Solarisation! A non chemical method of weed control done by covering weeds with plastic and allowing the heat from the sun to cook them and the accumulated seed bank of weeds as well. Our target weed was Kikuyu grass and we experimented with two methods, clear and black plastic. Black plastic was the clear winner for this site, most likely due to us starting too late towards autumn instead of the ideal hot sun of the summer months. Pictured are staff members Rob Grey and Derek Snowden checking progress underneath the black plastic. 

To keep updated with happenings in the river garden please click here. 

Roadside weeds be gone

The Works Crew have been busy this year spraying weeds on roadsides for the Bass Coast Shire Council including both sides of Phillip Island roads (36km)  and both sides of the mainland roads (217km) in areas not managed by VicRoads. This equals a massive total of 253km with some of this distance covered twice due to respray and woody weeding works. In comparison, last year the crew covered 50km of PI roads, and 157km of mainland roads – 46km more were sprayed this year. Well done to the crew, we think they will be looking forward to the planting season!

Bass Coast Arc - We need your help to make it a reality!

The Bass Coast Arc – “Community Access to Public Space” concept was the brainchild of passionate members of our community. The project aims to support local community group/s to work with land managers to improve public spaces. Click here to find out how your donation will be put towards this important work and start to get new projects rolling out across Bass Coast. 

Each month we feature a Bass Coast Landcare Network Staff member so you can put a face to the name and learn about us and what we do. 

Derek Snowden

Starting as a trainee in 2010 Derek has worked his way through the ranks and is currently the Works Crew coordinator. He brings a wealth of knowledge in re-vegetation techniques and weed control. His main passions are maintaining natural areas, in particular coastal and heath environments and assisting the development of the new generation of trainees.

Click here for more information on our staff or to get into contact with any of our team. 

We would love to hear from you and your groups with stories and photos of what's been happening in your area and suggestions of things that you would like to see in your E-news!

Happy Volunteer week!

Until next month,

From the Bass Coast Landcare Network.