Hello to all our Landcare Members, Partners, Sponsors and Friends throughout the Bass Coast Landcare Network and welcome to the July edition of our E-news. Is it just us, or did the past month just fly by?!

We have another jam-packed Enews for you. As we are right in the thick of the planting season, there are lots of community planting days to keep  you busy this winter. We also have highlights of recent days held, group contributions, some new resources and more. 

So find a nice patch of sun (if you can!) or even just a warm blanket, maybe a cup of hot chocolate, and scroll down for your monthly dose of all things Landcare!

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UPCOMING EVENTS 

Community Planting days all across Bass Coast

We are now in the middle of Winter, and for us Landcarer's, it’s the most wonderful time of the year! Thousands upon thousands of plants are going in the ground, creating shelterbelts, stabilising creeks, providing food and habitat for our native fauna… the list of environmental benefits is endless. Our works crew have been busy prepping sites for planting, and let me tell you, these planting projects are in the most stunning places!

Tree planting is not only beneficial to the land and wildlife, but also to you! Community planting days are a great way to spend time with your family and friends, allowing you to explore new areas which you normally couldn't  access,  often with spectacular views. You’ll get out in nature, work on your fitness, and in a few years you will enjoy that warm fuzzy feeling when you look up at a hillside and say, “I helped plant those trees!”. You, your friends, and your children will continue to watch those  little seedlings you planted become a beautiful forest.

Of course, all planting days conclude with a delicious BBQ lunch, at no cost, to reward you for your efforts. Check out our list of planting days below and do yourself a favour and get along to one or two, you won’t regret it!

Kongwak Hills Landcarer's would love some extra support to put a few more plants into the ground this season. Enjoy a morning with our lovely community, get fit on our hills and join them for the lunch provided by each day’s landholder. The scheduled dates are:

• Saturday 20 July – 1,500 plants with wallaby guards in previous plantation area
• Saturday 3 August – 3,000 plants across 2 sites on the Foster Creek
• Saturday 31 August – 4,000 plants in a large gully
• Saturday 14 September – up to 5,000 plants

To be added to the Kongwak Hills email list for further details, please contact the secretary Marg Hauser at  [email protected]

You can also keep updated on Kongwak Hills planting events by checking out their Facebook page by clicking here. 

Phillip Island Landcare Group's planting calendar is also here, with dates from June through to September.

• Sunday 28th July: Paul Waylen’s, Ventnor
• Saturday 3rd of August: Our Lady Star of the Sea, Cowes
• Sunday 25th August: John Dever’s, Rhyll
• Sunday 15th September: BushCare’s Big Day Out. Event hosted by Conservation Volunteers Australia. Planting day with Nature Parks. John Dever’s, Rhyll.

Click here to see the full-size PILG flyer with all the details, and don't forget to RSVP for any planting days you would like to attend (for catering purposes - all planting days finish off with a BBQ lunch!!​)

• Saturday 20^th July: Pricilla Alderton's, Woolamai, 5000 plants
• Saturday 27^th July: Paul Fisher and Phillippa Armstrong's,  Kilcunda, 5000 plants
• Saturday 10^th August: Stuart Anderson's, 4000 plants
• Saturday 14th September: Nick and Caroline Sibly, Woolamai, 6000 plants.

Please RSVP (for catering purposes) to [email protected] 

Check out the 3 Creeks facebook page for all event details by clicking here.  

Do you have a Hamilton tree planter (tube shape or round hico shape) a Pottiputki planter, buckets or a hico tube popping table tucked away in the shed somewhere at your place?

Each planting season there is always equipment left behind at properties or forgotten. Often we don't realise this until we need them again at the start of the next one. Now is the time to dig any of these things out, no judgement, no questions asked and drop them off back at the Bass Office 2-4 Bass School Road, Bass (just in between the Op shop and the Bass Community hall) for this planting season. It would be much appreciated so we have enough to go around for this year's community planting days and planting projects right across Bass Coast. 

Bass Coast Birdlife outing at Archies Creek

Would you like to learn about some of the birds in your local area?

Come along to this Bass Coast Birdlife outing, August 10th, 10am-12 noon. 
Meet at the Archies Creek Hall, 97 Archies Creek Road.

For more information contact Dallas on 0428 764 903 or email [email protected]​

Pictured is a Common Bronzewing.

First aid training for Landcare members - subsidised places available and free kits for groups attending.

We encourage our Bass Coast Landcare Group Committee's to send along 2-3 representatives from each group for these heavily subsidised places for Level 2 First Aid Nationally recognised training coming up on Wednesday the 13th of August from 9am-4pm at the Bass Community Hall. 

Having your group members qualified in first aid is invaluable for hosting  events throughout the year including tree planting, weeding and other activities that often take place in steep terrain and challenging environments. For $40 per participant you will receive the pre-course online training link (this will take 1-2.5 hours to complete at home, depending on previous first aid knowledge and will need to be done before the course) and one day of training to be qualified in Provide First Aid HLTAID003 including CPR.

Morning tea and lunch will also be provided and Bass Coast Landcare Network groups that book group representatives in will receive a free portable first aid kit suitable for small events. Limited spaces are available for this training and we would like members from each of our groups to be able to participate. 

Click here for more information on how to register your place.

Winter Hoedown

Check out this great event coming up in August... what better way to stay warm than by dancing to some fun tunes? Dances will be called by Big Possum String Band, you don't need to know the steps as they will teach as you go! This is a great event to support, being organised by the Bass Coast Acoustic Music club, as all surplus funds raised will be generously donated to Landcare. 

For more details and how to book click here.

The Hills Are Alive Tree Planting Project and Party

Due to an overwhelming number of keen volunteers, this event has filled before we even got to share it! We will tell you about it anyway, because it is an awesome initiative from The Hills Are Alive crew. *The article below is directly off The Hills Facebook page post.
“The Hills Are Alive Tree Planting Project is an environmental sustainability initiative that will contribute to tens of thousands of indigenous trees being planted over the coming years within the local area that our festivals are held.

With your help (and the help of $ raised from carpark passes sold at NYE on the Hill, Ocean Sounds and The Hills Are Alive Festivals) we are very excited to be planting 5,000 indigenous trees in the local area on SATURDAY 14th SEPTEMBER through an exciting new partnership with Bass Coast Landcare Network.

The day will begin at 1pm at a local farm a couple of kms from the Hills' site, with tree planting from 1:30pm - 5:00pm. We will then head back to The Hill from 5:30pm for sunset, drinks (on us!), bbq (on us!), music and DJ's (on us!). You're welcome to camp the night on The Hill too if you'd like.

This first year we have room for 50 volunteers and would love you to join us. It's first in best dressed and you can register to be part of the team by completing the below registration.”

Obviously this sounded like an opportunity too good to miss, because the 50 places were snapped up fast, AND there’s a waiting list!

If you’d like to join the waiting list in case somebody pulls out, click here.

GROUP AND NETWORK NEWS

Growing and Insetting Carbon - our Members on the News!

We love seeing our innovative landholders and Landcare groups on the news! As Bob Davie of Bimbadeen farm and Phillip Island Landcare group says, ‘If you want to make extra income, improve your farm and help the environment, then grow carbon.’ 
This story talks about a new Carbon Insetting program trading Co2 emissions, stay tuned for more details on how you can get involved.

Gippsland Intrepid Landcare Powlett River Beach Clean

Just under 30 Gippsland Intrepid Landcare and community volunteers  gathered last month at the mouth of the Powlett River to do a beach clean, scouring the rivers’ edge, beach, surrounding dunes and shrubbery for rubbish. All up, a massive 244kg of rubbish was collected, which was then sorted and counted so that the data could be entered into Tangaroa Blue Foundations Australian Marine Debris database. 186 glass stubbies were picked up along with 159 aluminium cans, and the most concerning of all was roughly 820 pieces of plastic. A ridiculous amount for such a small stretch of coast. ¾ of a skip bin was filled on the day… a great effort by all involved!

Click here to find out more about Gippsland Intrepid Landcare activities. 

Reader Article by Melynda Dawson from the Korumburra Landcare Group

Korumburra Landcare held a meeting on Tuesday 4th June, where we had a special guest come along and give us her wisdom on all things frogs. Lovely soup and arancini balls with real saffron was served to keep us all warm and happy.

The night was held at Prom Country Cheese, in their warm dining area. Bronwyn and Burke do a magnificent job as hosts, very humble and have big hearts. There were cheese platters for nibbles (and by the looks of the empty platters, the cheeses were well received!) Bronwyn made arancini balls with real saffron from Sandra. Some home made soups were the main meal on a very chilly night, and range of homemade desserts on offer too. We filled our bellies in anticipation for our guest speaker.

Dr Lynette Plenderleith has a massive love for frogs, a wildlife biologist, who has a PhD in Australian Frogs, a Masters Degree in Salamander ecology and a natural knack of interpreting science for the general public. Lynette is the founder and chair person of Frogs Victoria (which is how Korumburra Landcare Group came into contact with her), she is President of Victorian branch of the Australian Science Communicators.

Lynette has a bubbly, energetic personality, she has a vast range of knowledge of frogs from around the world and Australia, yet she communicates on a level that for the whole 75 minutes the 25-30 members were so engaged, they didn’t want the presentation to stop.

At the start of July, we had some site inspections on several local properties to search for culturally significant items. Archaeologist David Tutchener along with Bunurong Land Council staff Lakeisha Clayton and Shane Clayton scoured the sites for culturally significant objects or artefacts, on 5 properties in the Bass Hills and 2 on Phillip Island. Bass Coast Landcare Network staff Dave Bateman and Anna Brayley accompanied them to the sites, and assisted with looking for these artefacts, looking out for objects including smooth rocks, or rocks which appeared out of place, shells, or other items of interest. Unfortunately, nothing was found, but it was a very interesting experience nonetheless, with lots of discussion about local Aboriginal history and what sorts of artefacts had been found in other local areas.

For more information on the Bunurong Land Council click here. 

First Phillip Island Planting a Success

The first Phillip Island Landcare Group community tree planting event was successfully held in late June. 25 volunteers braved a windy cold winters day to plant 600 tube stock at a property in Rhyll. Wallaby mesh guards were placed around all 600 plants to protect them from damaging browsing. Afterwards a BBQ lunch was enjoyed by all in attendance and thankfully the rain held off until later in the day.

The next community tree planting event on Phillip Island is scheduled for Sunday 28th July. For further information contact the group directly at [email protected]

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

GRANTS, TRAINING, INFORMATION AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR LANDHOLDERS

Its Tax Time! ATO fact sheets for Primary Producers now on our website.

The Australian Taxation Office has a range of fact sheets available for primary producers on their website which we have now conveniently loaded up to our BCLN website to save you time finding them. These fact sheets give you the ins and outs of deductions for primary producers and include: Landcare and similar expenses, tree farming/forestry operations, expenditure to establish shelterbelts and fire preparedness and prevention expenses. 

Pollinator and beneficial insects guide

This guide has been prepared to aid identification of a selection of pollinator and beneficial insects commonly found in Victoria. The guide is part of the work being done by Karen Thomas, The Regional Agriculture Facilitator for Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority and Agribusiness Yarra Valley into beneficial insects and native insectaries for IPM (integrated pest management). The guide was originally compiled by Manu Saunders and Karen Retra with support from the Slopes to Summit Partnership and the NSW Environmental Trust. This version has been adapted by the Port Phillip & Westernport CMA and Agribusiness Yarra Valley with funding from the Victorian Government.

Download your copy either in booklet or poster form by clicking here.

NEW PROJECTS AND PROJECT UPDATES

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 our own local landscape.  You will also receive a great sticker for your car to show your commitment to the 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.​

STAFF UPDATES

New Executive General Officer

The Bass Coast Landcare Network Board and Staff have been working on a  restructure of Staff positions to adjust to current funding, project workloads and the parting of our previous Executive Officer, Kellie Nichols and Education Officer, Peter Baird.  

We are now proud to announce our new Executive General Manager Dave Bateman! Of course we know Dave from his long experience with the network in many roles, most recently as acting Executive officer in partnership with Abigail Yarranton. Dave and Abigail most ably stepped up to cover the Executive Officer role back in February and to their credit, kept the network running with minimum interruption after Kellie's sudden departure. Abigail will now focus on Human resources, OHS, High Performance Leadership and Governance, more about this and other changes will be coming up in next edition. 

Congratulations Dave, the Network looks forward to working under your positive leadership and direction into the future. 

Look out for more on the restructure in next issue of the Enews and for more on our staff team click here. ​

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.