June E-News from the Bass Coast Landcare Network - Landcare Group Community plantings, great stories, resources and more....

WHAT'S NEW IN JUNE - LANDCARE GROUP COMMUNITY PLANTINGS, GREAT STORIES, RESOURCES AND MORE..... BCLN E-News Welcome to the June edition of Bass Coast Landcare Network's E-news. With only a week to go until the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, we are certainly feeling the cold and longing for longer days here at Bass Coast Landcare Network. Need something to keep you warm this winter? There are plenty of community tree planting days coming up from groups across the network, why not visit somewhere you haven’t been before and see how things are done on the other side of the fence. Pop on the winter woolies and waterproof jackets and head on out to meet other landholders across Bass Coast. You can also plant and dance as well! As usual this e-news sums up some great things happening, inspiring stories, project updates, staff profile and plenty of interesting resources for you too. See you out there! You can also stay informed at our website www.basscoastlandcare.org.au or on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BassCoastLandcareNetwork/ and if you haven't already, give us a like and follow our page! UPCOMING EVENTS Click on the links for event information and booking details. Kongwak Hills planting day – This weekend June 16th Come join the Kongwak Hills Landcare Group to help plant 2000 Indigenous plants at Sam Walker and Daniela Mollica Property (Isola Chianina) at 25 Willmot rd Glen Alvie from 10am to 1pm. Sam has fantastic site ready to plant. The project will create habitat for the Powerful Owl, Strzelecki Gum and the Growling grass Frog. This planting has been funded through the Bass Coast Biolinks Project. Sam and Daniella will provide a great lunch too. Click this link for details on our calendar . Phillip Island Landcare Group: Walk the Island Series – Last walk this weekend, June 17th Phillip Island Landcare Group has their last walks coming up this weekend on Sunday 17 th of June. Spend time with fellow walkers, learning more about your local land and its inhabitants. There are two walks on this day, first in the morning at 8am from Forrest Caves to YCW beach and then in the afternoon from Oswin Roberts reserve to Rhyll Jetty at 2pm. Both walks will take around 2.5 hours to complete and are suitable for active persons. This is a free event and you must book to attend. For all enquiries and bookings contact David Rooks – Landcare Committee on 0418 115 935 or [email protected] Click here to find out more about the Phillip Island Landcare Group . Holden Partnership Planting day with Bass Valley Landcare Group - June 29 th Holden Partnership Planting day Come join the Bass Valley Landcare group and Holden staff on our first planting of the season on Friday the 29th of June. We will be planting 3000 plants at a beautiful property in Kernot. We also have the Bunurong Land Council giving us a cultural induction prior to planting. All volunteers will be treated to wood fired pizzas from the Kernot store for lunch. Please click here to register and for the flier with further details. River Garden Hands on learning series - Last Day June 30th After the first three sessions of this great series we are looking forward to the last session Saturday 30 th of June. This time we focus on Shelterbelts incorporating bush foods, how to create a food forest structure and species selection. We are also incorporating some traditional indigenous knowledge on using plants for food production with a visit from a Bunurong Land Council representative incorporated into the day. Our expert presenter Jarrod Ruch will again share his wealth of knowledge on how with clever zoning and planning we can incorporate these things into big and small properties. We will also continue the hands-on aspect of this series with some planting on the day, sheet mulching and setting up new spaces at this great community space. Be a part of the action! For all booking details and further information please click here. Phillip Island Landcare starts their 2018 Community planting days – Three more to go The first Phillip Island Landcare Group tree planting event for 2018 was held at the property of Bill Cleeland in Surf Beach over the Queens Birthday Long Weekend. It was a huge success with over 20 people planting and guarding 1000 plants. The well earned BBQ lunch was enjoyed by all afterwards. Thanks to all those who contributed. The Phillip Island Landcare Group looks forward to their next tree planting events scheduled for 23rd June, 15 th July and 18 th of August. Click here for flyer with all details for upcoming planting days on Phillip Island. Luminous galleries – Events in July There are still events left on the Luminous Galleries calendar through July to check out across four towns: Pioneer Bay, Grantville, Corinella and Coronet Bay. Click on the link below for the full calendar pictured above. Bought to you by The Edge Of Us: Small Town Transformation, an arts project celebrating life in our tiny Waterline towns. Across 2017 and 2018 artists and residents from CORINELLA, CORONET BAY, GRANTVILLE, TENBY POINT and PIONEER BAY will light up the towns in a series of projects to help understand our connections to one another, our unique environment and our call to the water's edge. This project is proudly administered by the Bass Valley Landcare Group. For more information on The Edge of us click here. Come Plant and Dance! August 18 th If your keen to get your hands dirty planting some trees AND have a little boogie then Intrepid Landcare have organised the event for you! The event is aimed towards 18-35 year olds in the Gippsland region. They have jam packed the day with 4+ hours’ worth of planting, an inspirational talk, dinner, local live music and DJ's! There’s also on-site camping available too. For more info and how to get involved click here. GROUP AND NETWORK NEWS Threatened species prosper The Bass Coast Landcare Network in partnership with Phillip Island Nature Parks has fenced off properties surrounding Churchill island to minimise the impacts of feral species, predominantly rabbits on the Eastern Barred Bandicoot (EBB) which is classified in Victoria as extinct in the wild. A trial release of 20 EBBs was conducted on Churchill Island in 2015 to evaluate the suitability of local conditions. This population increased to approximately 120 individuals in 2 years and has stabilised around this number. In addition to the fencing, feral species eradiation within the fenced area has been conducted and during spotlight counts growing numbers of bandicoots and decreasing numbers of feral animals have been recorded, including 2 joey bandicoots seen recently. This result gives us hope, enables us to gauge the effectiveness of our efforts and contributes to the justification of introducing other native species that are no longer found on Phillip island. Picture credit: Don Johnson For other services our Works crew can provide in addition to pest animal management, please click here. Bringing back the Gippsland forests at Springbank farm Story contributed by Libby Lambert, Springbank, Bena Victoria. In 2000, we purchased a 32 ha. valley of ‘blue gum country’ at the top of the Powlett River catchment, in South Gippsland. The native floral biodiversity at that time existed of six mature eucalypts, some declining mature blackwoods, silver wattles, and a few native grasses along the tracks. The fauna consisted of quails, magpies, kookaburras, some migratory birds, a few reptiles and frogs, the Giant Gippsland worms on south and east facing slopes, burrowing crayfish, loads of eels in the dams, foxes and one hare. The Gippsland forest had been cleared in the late 1800’s and the land used for dairy farming then later as grazing for young heifers. In 2000, it had few weeds - blackberries, thistles, some ragwort and boxthorn in a steep gully, as well as some mature pine trees, weeping willows and five beautiful oak trees around the original house site. There was ample water in the dams with one large dam shown on the maps as ‘permanent water’. Click here to read the rest of this great restoration story. Wonthaggi Urban Landcare Group Bird Outing The Wonthaggi Urban Landcare Group hosted a bird monitoring outing at the Wonthaggi Wetlands Reserve on Wednesday, May 23rd, 2018 with a small group of members and guests attending despite the inclement weather. The outing was led by Bass Coast Landcare Network’s Bird Monitoring Program coordinator Dallas Wyatt. Overall 35 different bird species were recorded and 178 birds counted for the outing. They were very fortunate to get clear views of three Crested Shrike-tit and a flock of eight Varied Sittella during the 500-metre general bird survey. These species are rare in South Gippsland and require remnant bushland or revegetated patches that are at least fifteen years old, and were seen in an area that was revegetated with tube stock plantings in the 1990s, indicating that the conservation works completed back then are now providing additional habitat for these rare birds to utilise. A number of common wetland associated species were recorded, most being quite tame enabling the group to get a good view. For more information about the Wonthaggi Urban Landcare Group click here. Growing Master tree growers from Bass Coast – series continues We have nearly held all nine days of the Master Tree Growers Course, held at different properties all over Gippsland. Last session was held at the Neerim Junction property of Cathy Briant and Andrew Peart. Cathy and Andrew are participants in the course and hosted us for the day. The highlight was a farm walk to look at a pine plantation site recently harvested. Cathy and Andrew also took us through their future agroforestry plans. Thanks to everyone for a great day. The Master Tree Growers Course is being run by the Western Port Catchment Landcare Network Inc, Bass Coast Landcare Network,

Article written by Isabel Rooks - year 9 student Wonthaggi Secondary College

I was glad that I spent my Saturday with Landcare on their wildlife corridor walk.

I was surprised to learn about the growth of native plants, what local farmers are doing to restore Phillip Island back to its original environment and pieces of history of the island that I have called home since I was born.

The walk on May 16th was a special event held by Landcare where 60 participants from the community walked the wildlife corridor, starting from the Koala Conservation Centre and finishing at Swan Lake. The day hike was part of the celebration of the 150 years of white settlement on Phillip Island. In addition to this, it was also the 21st anniversary of the wildlife corridor.

In total the walk covered 12kms of land, ranging from farm paddocks still stocked with cattle to shoe-drenching swamps.

Along the way the group of walkers were met by special guests who shared their extended knowledge of the area. Some of them included Mike Cleeland who told us specific stories in history, always in the way of a humorous tale or a lively poem. Bob Davie, gave a fantastic speech on his multiple projects on helping the environment and spoke of his passion of carbon sequestration. Before Bob, I had no idea that carbon sequestration was a way to reduce carbon dioxide form the atmosphere. By the engaged faces around me, I doubt many had heard of it either. Our last speaker, John Fields, told the group of the 40 acres of bare land that was to be revegetated adjacent to Swan Lake. The plants to be grown will have to be salt, flood and drought resistant. A tough expectation to fill.

By the end of the walk everyone was happily tired after they had all their questions answered by the many nature expects that came along on the day.

We were all very grateful for the amount of trees that had been planted over the years by Landcare with the communities help. Because of them, we had the pleasure to enjoy the sounds, smells and animal life of what Phillip Island would've been like 150 years ago.

Click here to find out more about the Phillip Island Landcare Group.