Hello to all of our Landcare Members, Partners, Sponsors, and Friends throughout the Bass Coast Landcare Network, and welcome to the October 2024 edition of the BCLN E-news.

The weather is warming up and we are now seeing beautiful Spring days, coupled with higher rainfall as well. With that our pastures are growing, plants put in the ground this season are flourishing, and we are now into our busy season of weed control. Our reptile friends are out and about again, our Works Crew have seen quite a few snakes basking in the sun lately, so don't forget your protective footwear and long pants when venturing out into long grass and on walking tracks.

This month's E-news contains lots of events, with something for everyone, from becoming Firewise, to stock, dam, nutrient, saltmarsh and biodiversity management, preserving produce, River Garden kids returning, and our BCLN Public Fund annual Fundraiser. 'The Landcare Art Prize' Opening night is an event you don't want to miss, a chance to catch up with all your Landcare friends, while supporting our environment through the arts. Project updates, grants webinars and other general news is also included this month, so grab a beverage, sit back and relax, we hope you enjoy the read.

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

Join South Gippsland Landcare Network from 9.30am to 12.30pm on Thursday 24th October to learn more about how specific indigenous plants can be retained or planted in strategic locations around the built environment, to better protect our assets from bushfire and enhance our local biodiversity. The Fire Wise Project is funded by the Australian Governments Preparing Australian Communities program in partnership with the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife.

Click here to register for this event. 

Would you like to learn about opportunities for nutrient removal and greenhouse gas reduction in farm dams and wastewater lagoons? To celebrate National Water Week, Westernport Water are hosting a special event covering exactly this, and you’re invited to join. This FREE event will cover preliminary findings of Westernport Water’s Floating Wetlands Pilot Project by project partners CSIRO, RMIT University and Covey Associates. Plus, you will learn about sustainable farm dams and their role for biodiversity and the carbon cycle from scientists at RMIT University.  ​
Bookings are essential by 22nd October (walk-ins will not be permitted). Numbers are limited, and morning tea will be provided. This event is suitable for VCE aged students and adults only.

Click here to book your place. 

On Saturday the 26^th of October, we are very lucky to have Dr Vishnu Prahalad coming to Bass to do a walk and talk on ecology and biodiversity of temperate saltmarshes, covering plants, animals, interactions, conservation and restoration. Dr Vishnu Prahalad is a Senior Lecturer in Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences, University of Tasmania. He has worked on saltmarsh ecology and management in Tasmania for over 15 years, closely collaborating with a range of government and non-government agencies and local groups. Apart from over 50 journal articles and reports, his publications include a popular field guide to the plants of saltmarsh wetlands, atlases for saltmarshes for all three regions of Tasmania, the ‘saltmarsh matters’ citizen science app, and several other science communication materials. His work has been recognised with a Landcare commendation, Tall Poppy award, and been featured in ABC Gardening Australia.  This event will be held on Saturday 26th October, 10am-3pm at the Bass Community Hall.

Click here for more information and booking details. 

In this webinar, Landcare Victoria will outline their submission to the State Government’s Victorian Landcare Facilitator Program review. The webinar will also provide an overview of our 2025 Budget advocacy campaign, which is aimed at raising awareness about Landcare in Victoria, with a particular focus on the importance of the Victorian Landcare Facilitator Program. This event will be held on Tuesday, 29 October - 5.30pm to 6.30pm over Zoom.

Click here to register.

Artists of all ages and abilities are invited to enter the Landcare Prize with a total prize pool of over $2,000 available for the winning entries. Expect to see an amazing array of art on display from a high standard of experienced and respected artists vying for the three top prizes. Beginning and emerging artists of all ages are encouraged to enter. Come along to our Gala opening night and show your support for Landcare via the arts. Who knows, you might just find that perfect piece for your home!

For entries, tickets and details, click here for all the links on our Public Fund webpage. ​

Emerging and existing opportunities to boost farm business bottom lines by improving biodiversity, will be explained in an upcoming Landcare Agriculture webinar.  This free webinar on Biodiversity in Agriculture: Maximising Opportunities for Your Business, on 6th November 2024, at 1pm (AEDT - NSW) will provide participants with a greater understanding of biodiversity, natural capital accounting systems and emerging environmental market opportunities, and is part of an ongoing series to build knowledge about natural capital accounting and biodiversity. It will provide participants with a greater understanding of how biodiversity changes are measured and how accounting systems work. 

Click here to secure your place.​

Had a great harvest? Don’t let any of it go to waste. Discover the fundamentals of preserving and fermenting food as methods of using up excess produce at our next River Garden Workshop from 10am-12pm on Saturday 9th of November. Explore a wide range of options so you can maintain variety as well as self-sufficiency. This is our last workshop proudly presented as a part of the Garden Gems project, a partnership between Bass Coast Shire Council, Bass Coast Adult Learning and community gardens across the region.

Click here to book your place. 

Join Stock Sense for a practical and informative Session on Farm Safety and Stock Handling on Friday 15th of November from 9:30am-1:30pm in Almurta. Mark your calendars as Stock Sense brings together local farmers and industry experts to discuss key strategies for improving safety and productivity on your farm. The event will be held in collaboration with the VFF’s Making Our Farms Safer (MOFS) team. This session will feature Jack Briscoe, who will present techniques for low-stress stock handling, an essential practice for both improving livestock flow and reducing injury risks for farmers and animals alike.

Book the workshop here.

Our very popular River Garden Little Kids program for 3-5 year olds and their parents is returning by popular demand! Thanks to funding from the Andrews Foundation, a further 5 sessions in late November/early December will be announced very soon, and will remain free for our families. We will send out another email with all of the confirmed details and booking links in the next few weeks. 

For all things River Garden please click here for our web page and events. ​

You are invited to this exciting and informative event on Becoming Fire Wise in Bass Coast and French Island with guest speaker Owen Gooding.   Recently retired, Owen has over 18 years experience with the CFA, working on land use planning, planned burning, and the management of biodiversity and cultural heritage values in bushfire mitigation work. Owen was also a member of the national Task Force investigating house loss in the 2009 Victorian bushfires. Mark your calendar, Bass Coast - 28th November and French Island - 29th November. For further information and to RSVP please email Joel Geoghegan:

[email protected] 

This is a great opportunity for you to participate in this 3-year training and mentoring program facilitated by Bioferts expert, Daniel Hodges from Soil, Water and Plants. A Biofert is a fertiliser that you can make on farm from several different bases. It is a brewed product which can be scaled from 20L to 20,000L and has a really stable shelf life. Bioferts use bacteria to aid in the chelation of minerals. The best thing about Bioferts are they are fun to make and cheap, and can also easily be modified to suit your individual farm needs.

Click here to read more about this exciting opportunity and to book your place!

The Kongwak Hills Landcare group hosted 30 soil enthusiasts at their “Regenerative Land Care” event on Saturday 14 September at the Outtrim Hall where presenter and author Stefanie Hildmann shared wisdom and practical techniques from her recently published book “Radical Soil Care - a no-nonsense guide to soil health”. 

Click here to read all about the success of the event.

Six years ago the Bass Coast Shire had less than 15 per cent native vegetation coverage and more than 150 local flora and fauna species were classified as under threat or endangered. The alarming statistics spurred the local council into action, and by 2018 it had developed the Bass Coast Biodiversity Biolinks Plan in partnership with Bass Coast Landcare Network (BCLN).

Read the full article here. 

Bass Coast Landcare Network would like to extend our thanks to TUROSI, one of our long-term corporate sponsors, who have now supported BCLN to plant just over 10,000 indigenous plants through their sponsorship support. On a beautiful day in early October, we held a great little planting day with TUROSI staff and Ivy from JBS Great Southern Beef program to achieve this great result. The planting was held at Brad and Dani Carr’s farm at Korrine. The Carr family have done an amazing job over the past 17 years strategically revegetating sections on their two beef properties to create amazing biodiverse farms which produce high quality cattle. The Carrs have utilised both direct seeding for shelterbelts and hiko cell plantings in the gullies and creeks. BCLN would like to thank both Zoe Marshall and Craig Jenson from TUROSI for their support over the past 4 years.
​To find out more about our Sponsorship packages and team building days and how your organisation can contribute to one of Victorias most successful Environmental Not for Profit organisations, contact [email protected]. 

Find out more about our Sponsorship opportunities and Partnerships model by clicking here.  ​

To our BCLN Members and Friends, just in-case you were on the lookout for the BCLN AGM date for 2024, we are reminding everyone that at our last AGM, we decided to change from a standard financial year (June 30th to July 1st) to a Calendar Financial year (Jan 1st to December 31st). This better aligns our main activities with the reporting and financial year. The impact of this change means that we won’t be running an AGM until April/May 2025.  

This October, engage with nature in your neighborhood as part of Frog Month Victoria. Anyone across Victoria can participate – simply record the sounds of calling frogs at your local wetland, pond, stream or farm dam using Melbourne Water’s Frog Census App, then upload. The information collected will help them to understand where different frog species are living across the state and will contribute to the conservation of Victoria’s amazing frog species.

A Growling Grass Frog (Littoria raniformis). Credit: Wikipedia

Get involved here. 

Natoora Melbourne have recently announced the local opportunity of their Farm Fund: Boosting Young Farmers in the Southern Hemisphere. Grants of $8,000 to $30,000 are available to farmers aged 35 and under, to support projects enhancing resilient, productive, and nutritious food systems. Focus areas include soil health, cultural identity, biodiversity, education, accessibility and innovation, with aims to create case studies for future farming practices.

​​For details and applications, click here. 

The new Tiny Towns Fund supports local communities to deliver quality tourism and community facility projects, such as splash parks and bike trails, playgrounds, community hall and library upgrades, public art and more. Towns with populations below 5,000 people in the 48 local government areas of regional Victoria are eligible to apply, as well as Alpine Resorts and Melbourne’s 10 interface outer metropolitan local government areas. Grants between $5,000 and $50,000 are available for community-driven projects. 

For more information and to apply, click here.

Previous months predictions for being wetter have not come to fruition, and although most models are still predicting an increased chance of rain in the future, confidence is low based on recent performance. The progress towards a La Niña is still very slow. Oceans are warmer to the north of Australia, but connections to tropical moisture are being hampered by unhelpful pressure positioning.

Read the full article here. ​

We unfortunately suffered another break-in to our River Garden shed this month, this time around $600-$700 worth of small items were stolen, mostly small tools used for our education programs, which is very disappointing. Despite this setback we have continued with our school groups working sessions and tours on the site, including groups from Bass Coast College (pictured), The Village High School and Newhaven College, as part of the Secondary Schools in Agriculture program, and French Island Landcare Group. We are busy pulling out the final winter crops, renovating our garden beds and starting to plant our spring/summer vegetables now that the frosts have gone. With all of this warm spring weather everything including the grasses and the weeds is growing very fast!

Next month we will finish the rest of our wetland works, with funding from the Victorian Landcare Grants and Westernport Water. Planning also continues on our Education Shelter funded by the Regional Development Victora Tiny Towns program through the Victorian Government. We also have the last in our free Garden Gems Workshops in November which will be on fermenting and preserving garden produce. You can click on the link below to book your place. The presenters for the Garden Gems workshops are funded by Council, with a small subsidy to cover costs for community gardens across Bass Coast. We hope to see you down at the River Garden!

Click here for all things River Garden and to book into our workshops. 

Between Wonthaggi and Inverloch lies a wonderland of plants and animals that few people know of. Koalas and Tree Goannas climb tall in the treetops and in Spring, the orchids bloom. The Bunurong Coast Woodlands are home to a variety of threatened species, and BCLN and Gippsland Threatened Species Action Group need your help to protect them!
​We are aiming to restore connectivity for threatened species by expanding and protecting bushland and re-creating wildlife corridors throughout the region. In 2025, BCLN will plant over 30,000 plants in the local area as habitat for threatened species.

Click here to learn all about the Gippsland Threatened Species Action Group projects, and to become a member.

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.

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, or by leaving a bequest in your will, helps to protect native plants and animals in Bass Coast’s most ecologically important landscapes. ​Click below to make your tax-deductible donation today. 

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.