Hello and Merry Christmas  to all our Landcare Members, Partners, Sponsors and Friends throughout the Bass Coast Landcare Network and welcome to the December edition of our E-news. As we all know, Christmas is the busiest time of the year for most people, with family events, parties, etc. so we don't have many events on our calendar, however we have lots of news this month! 

Wishing you all a safe and happy silly season and we look forward to catching up with you in the new year!

From all the Board and Staff members at the Bass Coast Landcare Network.

For all the latest updates follow us on Facebook by clicking here and if you haven't already, give us a like and follow our page!

UPCOMING EVENTS 

Phillip Island Landcare Group AGM December 22nd

Phillip Island Landcare Group will be holding their AGM and Xmas party on Sunday 22nd of December at Bimbadeen Farm.  They hope you can attend some or all of the activities planned for the day.   All details are in the flyer above.  RSVP's are essential for the dinner.

For more information on the activities on the Phillip Island Landcare Group please click here. ​

GROUP AND NETWORK NEWS

Today we had our BCLN AGM, starting off with the official proceedings at the Corinella Community Centre. We welcome back in our existing board executives and representatives from our groups to the board and thank Brian Enbom for 16 years of fantastic service and commitment as Vice Chair!
We then had a very informative presentation by Rebecca Koss, Senior Communications & Engagement Advisor, Office of the Commissioner Environmental Sustainability, on the State of the Environment report and how Landcare could potentially contribute to some of the indicators of environmental health they are measuring.
A delicious local lunch was then had by all at Fig and the bay in Corinella, a fitting end to a great day. Thank you to all who attended!

To see our latest Annual Report, follow this link!​

In a BCLN first, we have produced a calendar for 2020, so you can keep track of appointments, birthdays, and Landcare events in style! Calendars are A5 size so easily fit in your glovebox, bag, etc. and each month features a collage of images outlining some of the work we do as a Network.
​If you would like your own BCLN calendar, just pop into our office.

We hosted a fantastic field day last week at Prom Country Cheese. 77 people attended our Carbon Farming in a Changing Climate Field Day. The field day was part of the Growing Southern Gippsland project focusing on climate change resilience in Southern Gippsland agriculture. Thank you to all our guest speakers for contributing to the day, our hosts, Prom Country Cheese and to all those who attended. It was a fantastic event with new learnings and many more new questions.

The Growing Southern Gippsland project will be hosting another 4 field days in the first half of 2020. Keep an eye out for these exciting events.

Click here to go to the Growing Southern Gippsland website.

Unfortunately blackberries don’t just disappear… but they are not as hard to control as many people think. Now is the perfect time to control blackberry – when they are flowering. All the energy stored in their roots have been pushed into growth and flowering, their leaf cover has peaked for maximum herbicide uptake, and seeds that will grow next season haven’t set yet.

For more information on blackberry control please visit the Victorian Blackberry Taskforce website (https://vicblackberrytaskforce.com.au/), and for assistance in controlling them please call Mark, BCLN Works Crew Supervisor (0437 000 990) by day, triathlete by night (so a lot of work gets done in a day!)
​

With nursery volunteers busily sowing and propagating 1000’s of seedlings, now is the time to put in your order for native plants (see link below for order form). And if you are a Landcare member you’ll get a 10% discount! The majority of our stock is hico, but we do have limited numbers of forestry tubes and semi-advanced plants. We grow the standard range of species for revegetation within the Gippsland Plains and Strzelecki Ranges and have started growing colourful herbs and ground covers such as yam daisies, trigger plants, bulbine and chocolate lilies, pelargoniums, forest star wort, hounds tongue, and veronica.

Go to our Nursery Group page to download the order form. This can be filled out digitally and emailed through to us, or printed and mailed to the address supplied on the form.

Want to get the 10% discount? Visit our website to join your local Landcare group!

If you are interested in learning how to germinate and grow native plants, the volunteer group meet weekly at Bass – please contact Robbie Gray at  
robbie.gray@basscoastlandcare.org.au or 0448 386 724.

If you missed it in last month’s Enews, the Victorian Landcare Magazine published an article about our recent Landcare Network Award win, interviewing Executive General Manager Dave Bateman on all things BCLN!

Click here to read the article!

Gippsland Intrepid Landcare were also featured, for the receiving of the Austcover Young Landcare Leadership Award.

Click here to read their article!

Give the gift of an established garden with the Barb Martin Bushbank! Open from 9am to 3pm every Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, Special prices available until Saturday 21 December.
Established native flowers in 180mm pots, $12 including Stylidium, Pelagonium, Podolepis and Viola and more
Large native plants in 200mm pots – just $15 (Save 25%) Melaleucas, Banksias and Eucalyptus
1810 Phillip Island Road, Phillip Island

Click here to visit the Barb Martin Bushbank website.

The Ripple Effect is an online intervention designed to investigate what works to reduce the self-stigma (negative attitudes you have towards yourself) and perceived-stigma (negative attitudes you believe others have about you) among males from the farming community, aged 30-64 years, who have been bereaved by suicide, attempted suicide, cared for someone who attempted suicide, have had thoughts of suicide, or been touched by suicide in some other way. The intervention will provide:

• Opportunity for anonymously sharing experiences in a peer-supported environment.
• Opportunity to increase knowledge and literacy about the experience of suicide (challenging suicide myths and framing experience in a contextual way, facilitating help-seeking where required).
• ​Encouragement for a positive cycle by which the disruption of the negative feedback of self-stigma and perceived-stigma will also reduce stigma in others

Click this link to visit the Ripple Effect website.

Landcare Victoria Inc. and the Steering Committee of the recent LVI Forum in Gippsland have thanked all Volunteers, Sponsors and Partners who participated in the Landcare Victoria Inc Forum in October. Copies of presentation slides and other resources and links are available here, as well as the LVI forum feedback survey.

Click here to view the documents.

Have you ever been looking for something and felt like there were just too many websites, apps, and resources to remember which is which, and end up overwhelmed? The wonderful Kathleen Brack of the West Gippsland CMA had put together this fantastic document which breaks down over 40 resources into simple categories, with little descriptions of each resource.

Click here to download the 2-page document!

As we come into the warmer weather and people head own to the beach, it’s great to have an ‘info’ app to guide you. Jointly developed by Parks Victoria and Museums Victoria, the Bunurong Marine National Park Field Guide app contains all sorts of useful things, including maps, ID guides of flora and fauna to help identify what you see, and a photo gallery of images taken within the park. The app is available on both Android and iPhone, and is easy to navigate with just a few swipes of your thumb.

Click here to view more information on the app and to download it onto your phone or tablet.

The Victorian Government are developing and implementing a Volunteer Strategy to support and enhance volunteerism in Victoria, like our wonderful Landcare volunteers! The strategy will be informed by extensive consultation across the Victorian public and volunteering community, seeking insights into the challenges and opportunities for volunteers, community members, and managers of volunteers and organisations. Online consultation is now open until 31 May 2020

Click here to complete the survey!​

GRANTS, TRAINING, INFORMATION AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR LANDHOLDERS

Agriculture Victoria has rolled out On-farm Energy Tier 1 Grants as part of the Victorian Government's $30 million Agriculture Energy Investment Plan. 

The grants will provide support to farmers to replace energy inefficient equipment, install more energy efficient systems and enable own-generation capacity.

Farmers are encouraged to apply early, as grants are available to eligible primary producers until March 2020 or until available funding is exhausted (whichever comes first).

Any farmer wanting to access one of the grants needs to have an approved on-farm energy assessment

For more information click here!​

Victorian schools leading the way in minimising waste, saving energy and water, increasing biodiversity and tackling climate change are encouraged to enter Victoria’s largest sustainability awards for schools, i.e. 2020 ResourceSmart Schools Awards.

The 2020 award categories are:

• ResourceSmart School of the Year
• Teacher of the Year (Primary and Secondary)
• Student/Student Group of the Year (Primary and Secondary)
• Community Leadership School of the Year (Primary and Secondary)
• Curriculum Leadership School of the Year (Primary and Secondary)
• Campus Infrastructure and Operations School of the Year (Primary and Secondary)
• Community Leadership Volunteer of the Year

Entries close: Monday 16 March 2020

Click here to enter!

Totally Renewable Phillip Island was formed at a packed Public Meeting in Cowes in June 2018. Since that time there are 6 very active sub-committees :  Renewables, Transport, Food and Waste, Carbon Farming, Energy and Carbon Accounting. TRPI held an Open Day at the Cultural Centre in early September this year.  Phillip Island Conservation Society had an Information table in the Foyer. There was a lot of interest in Electric Vehicles and people were able to view these in the Town Square. Now there are a number of Battery Charge sites on the Island, including in the new Transit Centre.

A Carbon Auction was done by Landcare for TRPI in the Hall in the afternoon.  Bimbadeen donated 367 tonnes of C02 equivalent. Monies were donated to Landcare and spent by TRPI on Carbon Farming on Phillip Island. This removes CO2 from the atmosphere and assists in addressing Climate Change.  As a result of the Auction, Phillip Island Farmers will be financially assisted to Carbon Farm. A member of the TRPI Group has put in a small Biodigester and is allowing it to be a Case Study. TRPI has an Information Trailer that can regularly be seen at Community Events in the Shire.

Click here to visit the Totally Renewable Phillip Island website.​

Offset your Car Emissions in 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. 

To offset your car emissions with BCLN click here.​​

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.

Click here to find out more about how you can assist this important work.​

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.