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

Its a busy time on properties all across Bass Coast but if you have a chance, we have some events coming up very soon , there are new employment opportunities with our Network, new grant opportunities have been released, there are training sessions available, plus you can catch up on what has been happening with our event reports and general news.

Click the links below each story for further information, read on and enjoy! Please note... if your email cuts off the bottom of the Enews, scroll to the top and click 'view in browser'.

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UPCOMING EVENTS 

Phillip Island Landcare Group Annual General Meeting & Xmas Party

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

Trainee

Bass Coast Landcare Network are looking for passionate Trainees to undertake bush regeneration, revegetation, weed control and mapping works. This is a fixed term, full time position for the duration of the traineeship or two years, whichever comes first.

BCLN will take care of all your training costs and provide you with a mentor to assist you through your traineeship. This is a perfect opportunity for somebody interested in environmental work to gain a qualification whilst working full-time in the field.

Rabbit Project Officer

We are looking for a passionate and motivated individual to;

• Engage with and build the capacity of the community to support our rabbit control activities
• Support and work with key partners and stakeholders, and
• Implement rabbit strategies, including trapping, recording, and reporting.

Working with the Bass Coast Landcare Network, you will become part of a dedicated team responsible for education, advice and implementation of sustainable land and farm management.

Click here to see full position descriptions and application information.​

Beveridge Williams staff had the opportunity to spend a great day out recently, lending a helping hand to plant trees at a property in Ryanston on the 21^st of October. Working alongside Bass Coast Landcare Network staff, Beveridge Williams staff volunteered to plant a mix of 3,000 native Indigenous plants at a degraded creek site.

This planting contributes to providing tree, shrub and understory layers of plants, helping to bring a more diverse range of plant species to the area, as well as controlling erosion and providing habitat for native animals.

This day was organised as part of Beveridge Williams’ Bronze Sponsorship of the Bass Coast Landcare Network under the Network’s Corporate Planting Program, a program where businesses not only have the opportunity to support the iconic Landcare movement, but contribute to real on-ground projects and physically see their dollars in action, right in their own areas of operation. Bass Coast Landcare Network thanks Beveridge Williams for their support and looks forward to a productive partnership into the future!

Please click here to find out how you or your company can get involved with our Corporate Planting Program. 

BCLN board and staff members attended the Landcare Victoria Inc. biannual forum this weekend, hosted by West Gippsland Landcare Networks and their Partners at The Summit in Trafalgar. Pictured is Niels Olsen’s property showing a demonstration of the Soilkee renovator and parts of his Carbon crop certified by the Emissions Reduction Fund. We also had a fantastic and inspiring trip to Clinton Tepper’s multi-species cropping trial.

Other presentations included Steve Ronalds from Gippsland Jersey, our very own Joel Geoghegan and Ric Oldham on the Growing Southern Gippsland Project, Marnie Ellis from Latrobe Catchment Landcare Network on the Friends of Land and Water Group, Belinda Brennan on Australian Landcare international, Scott Elliot of Yarram Yarram Landcare Network on the Corner Inlet Seagrass Restoration Project, Phil Darton of Neerim & District Landcare Group on eDNA Project to monitor biodiversity in farm dams, Pam Robinson from the Landcare Victoria Oral History Committee, Peter Ware and Judy Farmer of Friends of Drouin Trees, Gerhard Grasser of AgriSolutions and Lynda Hoare of the Baw Baw Food Hub. A great weekend had by all!

For more information on Landcare Victoria Inc please click here. 

Melynda Dawson

What a very interesting night, I bet most of us went home wondering what small critters and organisms live on our properties!

A great meal with salads was on offer, thanks to Marie and Don for the meat and the scallop potatoes, they went down a treat! We were lucky enough and privileged to a very knowledgeable guest speaker Maxwell Campbell. He is the current president of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria.
His vast knowledge in all things microscopic is incredible. The microscopic / macroscopic footage and photos he shared with us, were literally something out of this world. Max introduced the group to a whole world of Crytozoic* organisms we have never seen, yet even thought about before.

Maxwell through his presentation, helped us all to understand that revegetation is a great thing to do on our properties, but understanding the organisms living within the leaf litter/mulch, within our creeks and waterways and within the rocks and bark of trees will help even us make our reveg projects even more successful.

We may not be able to ever restore what has been removed, but we sure can re-vegetate, each improvement you can make to your property is one small way to helping mother nature and her fascinating unseen survivors!

*Cryptozoic; Describing animals that live mainly within soil, litter, or detritus, being rarely seen in the `open air'. Most are invertebrates, such as earthworms, woodlice, centipedes, and numerous insect larvae, although the term may be extended to include burrowing or hole-dwelling vertebrates, for example some lizards, snakes, and rodents.

For more information on the Korumburra Landcare Group click here. 

The Kongwak Hills Landcare AGM and final meeting for the year was held recently at Prom Country Cheese. The group would like to thank Burke & Bronwyn Brandon for providing such a great venue and for putting together platters of their superb cheeses and a meal of lovely lamb parcels & salads. We would highly recommend an outing here over the summer.
The Group have elected their new committee for 2019/20, though still hope to see many of the previous committee still very much involved, or at least visiting from time to time. Kongwakers always welcome you with a cuppa and excellent food!
If anyone is interested in joining this group, please contact Bass Coast Landcare Network for further information or find out more about the group by clicking the link below.

Click here for more information on the Kongwak Hills Landcare Group.

Our bee keeping venture didn’t finish on a very good note last year, with a large loss of bees due to something we cannot pinpoint, but appeared to be a poisoning of some kind, whether they visited some sprayed flowers or something, we are unsure. We had our bee expert take the surviving hive away for the winter and help build up the strength of the colony, and they have been returned to us stronger than before. Rob Fransen from Sweet Bee Honey delivered the hive in early October, and immediately had to remove some frames of bees and brood (eggs) to avoid the hive becoming overcrowded and the bees swarming. The bees which were removed have been put into a new box, with a new queen, ultimately splitting off into a new hive. We spotted our queen in the big hive, and she still appears healthy and is actively laying.

Due to the expense of resetting our hives and having them professionally nursed back to health, we will not be doing a Masterclass this season… but we will do something, so watch this space!

For more information on the River Garden Master Classes please click here. 

The Spring 2019 issue (#76) of the Victorian Landcare and Catchment Management magazine, which is a feature of the 2019 Victorian Landcare Awards, is now available online. This issue of the magazine features stories on each of the 15 award winners that were announced at the 2019 Victorian Landcare Awards ceremony at Government House, Melbourne, on 30 August, including your very own Bass Coast Landcare Network!

Click here to look at the magazine. 

“The Andrews Labor Government is providing more opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors and make it easier for Victorians to get out and take advantage of our beaches, forests and bushland. Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D'Ambrosio recently introduced a bill into Parliament to create a new Marine and Coastal Park along the Bass Coast – delivering on a key election commitment – and provide more camping opportunities along Victoria's rivers.

The Yallock-Bulluk Marine and Coastal Park will protect the pristine parks and reserves dotted along the 40 kilometre coastline between San Remo and Inverloch and open them up for visitors to camp, walk and swim. The park will also provide a big boost to local businesses, with the tourism hotspot now available for camping for the first time.

To read the rest of this media release click here. 

Urban gardeners: check out Urban Plant Health Network. This is a new network to connect you with industry and government experts to help you identify and manage exotic plant pests and diseases in your home and community gardens. 

Click here to visit the website!​

In mid-November the Bass Coast Landcare Network and Westernport Catchments Landcare Network co-hosted a Master Tree Growers discussion group day at the property of southern gippsland farmers Frank and Sharon Hirst in Ranceby. Participants from the last two Master Tree Growers courses were all invited. We had some great presentations and also managed to avoid most of the rain on a fantastic farm walk. Another great event with really positive discussion between the participants. Sustainable timber production on private farms is seen as an opportunity for Southern Gippsland landowners and those who attended have all commenced their own agroforestry journeys.

Thank you to Frank and Sharon Hirst for hosting us at their property. Thanks also to guest speakers Dan Bright from Amber Creek Farm and Sawmill and architect Paul Haar who spoke about his involvement in the CERES Fair Wood program.

This event was funded through the Smart Farming in Westernport Project, National Landcare Program 2.

For more training events in Bass Coast click here. 

Introducing the new Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Guide (October 2019) to assist Landcare and environmental volunteer groups and networks that care for landscapes in Victoria, to better understand the state's Aboriginal cultural heritage management process.

The guide steps out the process for meeting the requirements of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 and helps determine whether a Cultural Heritage Permit is required. The guide also provides the key Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Contacts by region and Registered Aboriginal Parties (RAPs).

Click here to view or download the guide!

GRANTS, TRAINING, INFORMATION AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR LANDHOLDERS

Do you want to learn more about on-farm biosecurity? AgVic are holding a webinar/phone seminar, on Wednesday 27 November from 8pm to 9pm. Dr Jeff Cave will give an overview of his learnings from his direct experience with the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in the United Kingdom.
A producer panel will also be discussing the importance of biosecurity in everyday activities and practical ways to implement measures on-farm. A Q&A session with the audience will conclude this event.

To register click here or email [email protected] or (03) 5355 0530.

Are you a small-scale Victorian brewer, distiller or craft agribusiness? Grants of between $25,000 and $200,000 are now available to help your business scale-up, expand, diversify your product offering and increase employment.

Click here to head to the Business Victoria website for more details and to apply.​

The purpose of the Smart Farms Small Grants round is to support land managers practice change that will deliver more sustainable, productive and profitable food, fibre and forestry business while protecting Australia’s biodiversity; protecting and improving the condition of natural resources; and assisting Australia meet its international obligations. Grants of between $5,000 & $50,000 (excl GST) for eligible projects of up to 2 year duration are available. Applications close at 11.00pm AEDT on 19 December 2019.

For more information on these grants, click here!

We would like to welcome Luke Phillips into the new role of 'Works Crew Second in Charge'. Luke started with Bass Coast Landcare Network in 2015 as a trainee, completing his Certificate 3 in Conservation and Land Management with Landcare. He has since been working as an integral part of our Works Crew team, gaining experience in all aspects of the job, making him the ideal candidate for the position. Big congratulations to Luke on this achievement! 

Luke will be working alongside Works Crew Coordinator Mark Rowe. Pictured are Mark (left) and Luke.

Click here to read a little more about our Works Crew.​

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.