Seasons Greetings from the LPLN

Seasons Greetings from the LPLN! Group Christmas break ups and BBQs are on in earnest. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. All the best for the rest of 2012 (and the rest of harvest season). See you all in 2013.

Mt Buckrabanyule - Opuntioid Cacti National Coordinator visit

The National Coordinator for Opuntioid Cacti, Shauna Potter visited Mt Buckrabanyule on Friday 16th November. Ms Potter is undertaking a tour of areas in Victoria to gather information on Wheel Cactus and other Opuntioid Cacti, and the works being undertaken to control these invasive weeds.

 

Along with representatives of the local Wychitella District Landcare Group, Parks Victoria, the North Central Catchment Management Authority and the Loddon Plains Landcare Network, the gathering enabled a broad ranging discussion on the Wheel Cactus infestation at Mt Buckrabanyule from a National through to local perspective.

 

The group visited some of the core infestations on the mountain and heard from locals as to some of the issues arising from the weed and it's control

The LPLN is developing a project proposal to help control the Wheel Cactus on the mountain, which is a main infestation and source in the district. The most effective treatment for Wheel Cactus control is stem and pad injection with glyphosate.

Photos (click to enlarge) by Anthony Gallacher: Core infestation of Wheel Cactus (top), locals and representatives (middle), a large Wheel Cactus specimen (bottom).

November Issue LPLN News

The November issue of the LPLN News has been released!

The newsletter can be downloaded from the Loddon Plains Landcare Network gateway portal. Follow this link.

Northern Plains CMN joins the LPLN

The Northern Plains Conservation Management Network (NPCMN) is the newest group to become a member of the Loddon Plains Landcare Network.

The NPCMN works with communities, government agencies and non-government organisations within the regional landscape to protect, enhance and promote grassland and woodland ecosystems. This is done through recognising and supporting a workable balance between biodiversity conservation and sustainable farming. The network administers and promotes the implementation of land management techniques such as pest plant and animal control, fencing and revegetation with the aim of increasing habitat quality and extent.

The NPCMN focal ecological communities are the nationally critically endangered Natural Grasslands of the Murray Valley Plains and the nationally endangered Buloke Woodland of the Riverina and Murray-Darling Depression Bioregions.

 

"We are very much looking forward to forging a strong and inspired partnership with the LPLN into the future to help secure and manage our remaining native flora and fauna." Beau Kent, NPCMN Facilitator.

Communities for Nature Small Grants - Open

The Communities for Nature Grants 2012 Small Grants Opportunity round has been released by the Department of Sustainability and Environment.

The grants are targeted towards community groups tackling local environmental issues, with funds available up to $10,000 per project. Applications close on the 19th of December 2012.

More information is available on the DSE website here.

Aerial flight - Farming for Sustainable Soils

The Salisbury West and Mt Korong Landcare Farming for Sustainable Soils group undertook aerial monitoring of their area on the 19th of October.  There were 3 flights, enabling 30 people from the group to view the Landcare efforts across the landscape. The flight departed from Bendigo and included a sweep down to Laanecoorie, then followed the Loddon River north past Bridgewater up to the Serpentine Creek and a circle out around the Fernihurst Weir. The flight concluded with a sweep past Mt Korong.

The monitoring flight looked at the initiatives of the group including the works on planting trees, putting in corridors across the agricultural landscape and widening the riparian area of the Loddon River. Also under observation was the effect of increasing ground cover between crops. The vantage point from above enabled a clear view of any exposed soils in paddocks. The importance of roadside conservation reserves and riparian vegetation corridors in the Loddon Plains landscape was also very pronounced from above.

The ideal flying conditions made for an insightful and enjoyable flight.

Photos: Plane at Bendigo airport (top), Loddon River and Serpentine Creek (bottom).

Friends of Terrick Terrick National Park Open Weekend

The Friends of Terrick Terrick National Park held their annual Open Weekend of the park on the 5th-7th of October. The weekend was part of the 2012 Naturally Loddon Festival.

Over 40 people attended the weekend at various stages, with some new memberships among the members renewing theirs again for 2012-2013. 

Based at the historic Davies Homestead, attendees were treated to various talks on the Friday evening, including Helen Stevens local history presentation.

Weekend activities included the removal of old animal exclusion plots and fallen fences, weeding around the meeting complex, preparing tree guards to be installed later this month, and seedlings planted last year were checked for their progress.

A total of 27mm of rain fell over the weekend, which resulted in the program being slightly modified from expected and may have kept attendance down. However the weekend was still a success despite the damp weather!

Congratulations to the Friends of Terrick Terrick National Park committee and volunteers who put a tremendous amount of effort into organising the event each year.

Photos by Jill Millsom: Retrieving animal exclusion plots (top), Helen Stevens local history talk (middle), wildflower display (bottom).