Section 2 - The Landcare framework

The landcare framework is a multi-tiered structure overseen until recently by the Australian Landcare Council. Volunteers are the backbone of Landcare. Much of their work, however, would not be possible without the support of the professional landcare workforce—the small army of national, local, regional and state coordinators and facilitators who support community leaders and coordinate the efforts of community volunteers. Landcare’s corporate arm, Landcare Australia Ltd, also plays a vital role through its fundraising efforts.

Landcare’s passionate volunteers

It’s an ordinary Saturday in the world of landcare. On this freezing winter’s morning in Tasmania, a group of volunteers is wading through the mud of the North Esk River, removing willows.

Later, on a steamy, hot afternoon in Darwin, members of the National Trust Landcare Group pull aside a thicket of weeds to reveal an old spring that has been lost to history.

To the west, Friends of the Moora Woodlands, in Western Australia, are installing nesting boxes for endangered Carnaby’s cockatoos.

In the rangelands of South Australia, volunteer rangers are learning how to protect dozens of endangered birds in the harsh environment of Gluepot Reserve.

Across Australia on a typical weekend hundreds or thousands of landcare volunteers are likely to be working.

The heart and soul of landcare is its volunteer community groups—more than 4000 of them—complemented by thousands of others such as Coastcare, Bushcare, Rivercare and ‘Friends’ groups .

Many are farmers, landowners and land managers who volunteer their time, efforts and finances and take on risk to learn about and change to farm-management practices that are sustainable for the long term and broader public good. Thousands more in cities and towns and along coastlines are working to conserve and protect parks, bushland, creeks, rivers, dunes and streets.

• More than 4000 community landcare groups
  
• 41 per cent of farmers are landcare members (more than 50 000 farmers)
  
• 60 000 active volunteers in 2000+ Coastcare groups
  
• Thousands of other Bushcare, Rivercare, ‘friends of’ and monitoring groups.

Valuing urban bushland

Group: Friends of the Moora Woodlands
Location: Moora, between Perth and Geraldton, WA
Formed: 2005
Focus: Protection of salmon gums in urban bush remnants

Australian native orchids are so small, delicate and elusive that it’s often necessary to get down on hands and knees to appreciate their individual characteristics and beauty.

The Friends of the Moora Woodlands— a small group of volunteers preserving remnant bushland reserves at Moora— were happy to get down on their hands and knees to look for the precious orchids during the Great Moora Orchid Hunt in August 2007.

Joined by more than 50 visitors from around Western Australia, including members of the WA Native Orchid Study and Conservation Group, they found 17 species in small bushland reserves around the town.

‘Orchid hunters were invited to take a small garbage bag with them while they were scouring the ground for flowers and pick up little pieces of rubbish,’ said Friends member and Northern Agricultural Catchments Council officer Christel Schrank.

‘The hunt not only identified a large number of budding and flowering orchids, but also enhanced the beauty of the woodlands through the removal of 10 bags of litter.’

The group is dedicated to protecting the township’s small reserves by helping with conservation and wildlife habitat protection and finding better solutions to managing problems on them. It holds clean-up activities, has registered with Land for Wildlife and built fences to manage the impact of vehicles on the reserves.

^{Community volunteers installing traffic-control bollard at Moora’s Pioneer Park.}

‘Such small reserves are an important part of the heritage of rural towns, but they do need looking after,’ said Christel. ‘The group has voluntarily taken on this stewardship with the support of the Shire of Moora, Moore Catchment Council and the Northern Agricultural Catchments Council.’

Members are also working to protect the mature salmon and white gums that line the approaches to the town and are a distinctive feature of Moora.

The gums provide important nesting sites for the endangered Carnaby’s cockatoos. As nesting hollows can take between 120 and 150 years to develop, protecting the mature trees is a high priority.

Volunteers have installed nesting boxes on public and private properties to supplement declining nesting sites due to land clearing.

‘We need more days like the orchid hunt where knowledge and information can be shared to raise enthusiasm and pride in our local bushland,’ said Christel.

‘But difficult questions such as how do we engage our younger people in natural resource management and how do we effectively protect our bushland remnants still need to be addressed.’

^{Salmon gums—a distinctive feature of Moora}

Risky idea proves its worth

Group: Trees in Newcastle
Location: Newcastle, NSW
Formed: 1990
Focus: Revegetation with local species

When Trees in Newcastle’s nursery manager Pete Hanson suggested in 1995 that the organisation should focus on growing local plants collected from local seeds, most other staff and volunteers thought the idea seemed a bit weird and very risky.

At that stage Trees in Newcastle (TIN) was six years old and very successful, having grown from a single staff member in 1990 to 12 staff. It also provided the region’s most experienced Local Employment Action Program (LEAP) trainers.

Offering training and employment opportunities had become a core principle of the organisation. However, as LEAP was winding up, TIN needed to refocus its direction. After some discussion, members agreed to go ahead with ‘the local native plant’ vision.

Born out of a public meeting in 1989 to inspire people to plant more trees in the city and surrounds, TIN has evolved from a close-knit, grassroots community group into a regional environmental service provider.

TIN is a landcare group, local native plant nursery, volunteer and education centre and provider of bush regeneration services.

By 1999 TIN’s vision of local plants grown from local seeds had become a reality, and within a year the organisation had a keen core of volunteers collecting, sorting and growing a huge range of local native plants.

In 2000 TIN started the Landcare in Schools program, supported by income-generating activities such as grow-to-order nursery services for local councils and landcare groups and professional bushland regeneration teams.

^{School volunteers in fore-dune revegetation project}

‘Our expanding success has been intertwined with the changes in natural resource management at all levels of government, greater awareness of the benefits of local native plants, the changing nature of volunteering and more funding opportunities for projects,’ said TIN’s current manager and former chair Gordon Patrick.

‘In 2007 we had 24 paid positions and volunteers were providing 1800 hours a month of enthusiasm and energy. The majority of the bush regenerators started out as volunteers infatuated with native vegetation.

‘Members of our volunteer contingent are passionate people dedicated to the environment in all they do,’ said Gordon.

‘Respect for each other, as well as for the environment, is reflected in the structure of the community organisation, the activities undertaken and the footprint of our endeavours.’

^{Coastcare kids}

^{Tree-planting day—TIN’s vision of local plants grown from local seeds has become a reality.}

Protecting the brand

Group: King Island Natural Resource Management Group
Location: King Island, Tas.
Formed: 1996
Focus: Coordinated and integrated natural resource management

King Island has a high reputation for ‘clean, green’ produce, and the island’s natural resource management group has worked hard to contribute to this.

The activities of three landcare groups on the island and concern for the environment led to the formation of the King Island Natural Resource Management Group in 1996.

‘Our first project was to develop a plan to better integrate landcare projects with an island-wide approach to natural resource management,’ said group secretary Eva Finzel.

‘With funding from the Natural Heritage Trust, work began in June 1998 and included extensive community consultation, input from outside experts and the use of previous studies.

‘The project concluded in 2001 with the publication of the King Island Natural Resource Management Review and Strategic Action Plan 1998–2001, which identified environmental issues that needed to be addressed. It laid the foundation for future projects and was the first in a series of publications by the group,’ she said.

The group developed a multi-faceted program to address the range of issues identified in the plan. The program included Waterwatch, Coastcare, a vegetation management strategy, a devolved grant and continuous support for the projects of the three landcare groups.

‘Work started in 2000 and included biodiversity conservation through fencing and revegetation, and the development of various strategies as a basis for further work on problems such as management of remnant vegetation, weeds and wallabies. Work on these issues is ongoing,’ said Eva.

‘Through a community awareness program, we developed publications to assist landholders manage their properties and inform the wider community about these conservation issues.

‘A community working group was involved in developing and publishing a field guide to King Island’s indigenous plants. Several experts contributed to the publication of a fauna guide, and a community working group also had input into the publication of a book about the history of environmental change on King Island,’ she said.

Salinity is an issue on parts of the island, and the NRM group investigated this through various projects ranging over six years. This work culminated in a forum of national salinity experts and geologists and the development of a manual for use by landholders to deal with salinity on their farms.

A four-year Environmental Management Systems (EMS) Pilot Project built on the group’s previous work. The aim was to develop and assess the value of EMS as an NRM tool in agriculture.

‘It helped primary producers and processing industries to meet emerging marketplace demands for good environmental management and to achieve efficient productivity and improve overall competitiveness,’ said Eva.

The group collaborates with the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Water and the Tasmanian Institute for Agricultural Research on a study of the browsing impact of Bennett wallabies on pasture, wallaby numbers on the island and cost-effective control methods.

It is also working with the Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Team to protect the endangered bird’s habitat on the island.

Uncovering hidden treasures

Group: National Trust Landcare Group
Location: Darwin, NT
Formed: 2005
Focus: Urban rainforest regeneration

Dashwood Crescent, on the edge of Darwin’s central business district, is home to a small pocket of native bushland.

Back in 2004 the eroded, weed-covered site had little to recommend it. No-one had managed the site for years, and it was almost forgotten. But under the weeds lay some hidden treasures—a natural spring that flowed for much of the dry season and was thought to be a water source for Darwin’s early Chinese market gardeners.

The site also contained remnants of monsoon vine forest, which survives only in small pockets around Darwin.

Realising the site’s potential and that the area could be lost to development, local resident Sharyn Yelverton and National Trust Landcare Group coordinator Gavin Perry worked with community groups and residents to have it rezoned for conservation, succeeding in October 2004.

The landcare group then took over the job of restoring and maintaining the area. Gavin coordinated the development of a management plan, involving local residents, scientists and government agencies.

Through Greening Australia, Friends of the Botanic Gardens and members of the Top End Native Plant Society, he sourced suitable plant species to revegetate the site, and persuaded people to donate them to the cause.

He made sure the group used best-practice planting techniques, and planted the correct species, without the need for irrigation.

Gavin and other group members then lobbied to establish a long-term project, to build a nature walk between the central business district and the Darwin foreshore. The walk starts in the Dashwood Crescent landcare area and links to another remnant of vine forest at Myilly Point.

The group has encouraged and inspired local residents to join working bees by putting up signs to inform them of landcare activities on the site, and has held a public tree-planting event to involve the local community.

Dashwood Crescent residents, including those living in new high-rise apartments around the site, are enjoying the foresight of Gavin and the National Trust Landcare Group in saving and restoring this piece of Darwin’s history.

^{Re-staking two-year-old native monsoon forest trees. The National Trust Landcare Group has inspired local residents to join working bees.}

The challenge of diversity

Group: Dorrigo Mountain Top Landcare Group
Location: Mid-north coast, NSW
Formed: 1991
Focus: Water quality and biodiversity

Dorrigo Mountain Top is a peninsula surrounded by three national parks—the World Heritage-listed Dorrigo National Park, Bellinger River National Park and New England National Park.

The Waterfall Way, which passes through the district, is one of the top three scenic drives in Australia, and two of the waterfalls that give the road its name originate on a Dorrigo Mountain Top property.

Dorrigo Mountain Top Landcare Group formed in 1991 to plant native trees that would beautify their local road and shelter cattle in adjacent paddocks.

‘It was an ideal goal for the group to start with because the neighbourhood was a mix of beef and dairy farmers on large acreages and hobby farmers on five-acre blocks,’ said Bellinger Landcare coordinator Pia Dollmann.

‘This diversity posed some challenges, like the issue of dogs and cats and their impacts on wildlife and livestock, the use of herbicides, control of feral animals with 1080 baits and clearing native vegetation.’

One of the strengths of the group has been its ability to put aside its differences and respect the wealth of experience and skills that members bring.

The group agreed that its highest priorities were protecting and revegetating rainforest and riparian zones, protecting biodiversity and improving the quality of water leaving farms. Members envisaged a mosaic of wildlife corridors and riparian zones connecting the national parks across the agricultural landscape.

The group has made strong progress in its vision. Members have planted more than 50 000 trees, fenced off 160 hectares of rainforest and 80 kilometres along riparian zones and installed 70 cattle troughs for alternative watering sources.

^{What a difference 10 years makes. Dorrigo Mountain Top then …}

Over the 16 years members have found friendship and group stability.

'While working in a group is not everyone's strength, there's a friendly, supportive and cooperative spirit,' said Pia.

'One of the most telling comments was from a dairy farmer who was watching his new neighbour fencing off his waterways and splitting his farm into new paddocks based on land capability for beef grazing. He said: "I thought he was mad, that fellow - mad about fencing. But when I noticed how clear the water was in the creek on his side of the fence compared to my side, the penny dropped".'

While funding support has come from a number of state and federal programs, group members have more than done their part. The value of their volunteer hours is up to six times that of the value of the funding dollars received.

Dorrigo Mountain Top Landcare Group has received a number of awards in recognition of its achievements, most recently in 2007 when it took out a Landcare State Award in New South Wales.

^{... and now.}

An inspired moment

Group: North Esk Landcare Group
Location: Launceston, Tas.
Formed: 1991
Focus: Removing weeds and revegetating riverbanks

One day in 1989 Gus Green heard a radio interview about a new program called ‘landcare’. In a moment of inspiration, he wondered if landcare could help him restore the North Esk River—Launceston’s major waterway–which was badly degraded by willows and other weeds.

Gus picked up the phone and rang the state agriculture department. It was the start of an epic landcare journey.

‘I had no idea how to fix up the river and access funding,’ he said. ‘But the important thing was believing in the idea, and being surrounded by other believers.’

The North Esk Landcare Group was established in 1991, with a vision called ‘Ribbon of Blue’—to rehabilitate 14 kilometres of the river.

Its first grant, from Greening Australia, was for $1500. Since then Gus and the group have raised more than $1.3 million from government programs, sponsorships, Landcare Australia, Launceston City Council and local and national businesses. Politicians from all sides, and the local media, supported the project.

‘The cash has been matched by an immeasurable amount of in-kind support —probably 10 times that provided in direct funding,’ said Gus.

Much of the labour was volunteer, but Gus also recruited help through labour-market programs such as Greencorps, Jobskills, Work for the Dole and Conservation Volunteers Australia.

‘Those workers are the real heroes,’ he said. ‘They came out with their chainsaws and tractors and excavators on rainy winter mornings, in frost and in summer heat waves. At times they worked in mud up to their waists. We couldn’t have done it without them.’

Where 15 years ago willows sprawled over stinking mudflats and choked the river, today hikers, cyclists and families can walk along the river’s edge, enjoying the flow and watching black swans and kayakers glide past.

Because of Gus’s persistence, the Launceston City Council has committed an annual budget to complete the project and maintain vegetation and tracks, and to contain willow regrowth.

‘Getting council’s full support and commitment takes the pressure off the group and lets volunteers move on to other projects, and the rest of their lives,’ said Gus.

For his outstanding commitment to the community, Gus was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2005.

^{A vision to rehabilitate 14km of the Esk River}

^{Gus Green—inspired by a movement called Landcare}

Finding local solutions to sustainable farming

Group: Edillilie Landcare Group
Location: Eyre Peninsula, SA
Formed: 1990s
Focus: Soil improvement

The Edillilie Landcare Group is typical of a small farming community that has recognised soil and water management issues, and has acted to improve the situation.

Situated in the middle of the Cummins Wanilla Basin, Edillilie is about 40 kilometres north-west of Port Lincoln.

Traditionally, production systems in the basin have been based on annual crops and pastures such as wheat, barley, canola and lupins. Sub-clover and annual ryegrass make up the bulk of the improved pastures for sheep and cattle grazing.

With the decline of the wool industry, rotations had become more intensified, with some farmers moving towards continuous cropping systems.

An inefficient annual crop/pasture farming system meant crops were averaging less than half their potential. Poor livestock returns led to pastures being allowed to decline, resulting in poor productivity and lower water use. Dryland salinity was looming as a major threat to productivity.

Groundwater monitoring by the CSIRO indicated that half the catchment would need to be revegetated with native species to contain salinity. As revegetation on this scale was neither practical nor profitable, landholders adopted a farming systems approach to maximise productivity by using more water.

Supported by the South Australian Government, industry and local rural merchandise resellers, the group established a demonstration site to compare new farming systems. These included soil amelioration through clay spreading and delving, and new technologies such as raised-bed farming, controlled traffic and deep cultivation.

This approach not only allowed current systems to be modified within the current farming enterprise structure but also addressed other land management issues, not just salinity. The approach also had social benefits, creating a more stable and sustainable community.

Meetings were held to review and plan activities, and field days attracted farmers from across the basin, extending the new technologies beyond the Edillilie district.

The Grains Research and Development Corporation, the Natural Heritage Trust and the National Dryland Salinity Program, through the Million Dollars for the Future Project, supported the initiative.

Subsequently, the group has been involved in the national Grain and Graze program, which is looking at dual-purpose cropping technologies, the interaction of livestock with cropping and options for pasture that improves water-use efficiency and feed availability.

The group is still active but is not involved in any major programs at present. Nevertheless, it recognises the value in maintaining its core activities for when new issues and opportunities arise.

Lifeblood of the reserve

Group: Gluepot Reserve
Location: Riverland Region, SA
Formed: 1997
Focus: Conservation reserve management

With an annual budget of between $50 000 and $80 000, a land area of 54 000 hectares to manage and 18 nationally threatened species of birds to protect—not to mention reptiles and bats—Gluepot Reserve’s management committee has a major challenge. Only the extraordinary commitment of its volunteers makes the project possible.

Purchased in 1997 for $360 000 with funds raised in just over 10 weeks by members and supporters of Birds Australia, the reserve is Australia’s largest community managed and operated conservation reserve. And it’s run entirely by volunteers.

Since the signing of the South Australian Heritage Agreement in 2004, the reserve has been protected in perpetuity under state law. This makes it the largest area in South Australia under such an agreement. It is also the largest block of intact mallee left in Australia.

As parts of the reserve have not been burnt since the last major fire in 1950— and other parts for even longer—the area contains a huge variety of habitats for birds and animals. Many of the reserve’s mallee and casuarina woodlands are hundreds of years old and provide essential old-growth habitat.

^{Gluepot Reserve—few areas support such a concentration of threatened species.}

In addition to the 18 species of threatened birds, the reserve is home to 53 species of reptiles and 12 species of bats, some of which are nationally threatened. Few areas in the world support such a concentration of threatened species.

The volunteer management committee has wide-ranging skills in resource management—and the business acumen to run the reserve on a shoestring.

It has successfully combined land management, scientific research, environmental education and sustainable ecotourism to achieve biodiversity conservation.

Volunteers come from all states of Australia, and from overseas. Between 1997 and 2007 they donated nearly 203 000 hours and more than 1.23 million kilometres of motor vehicle mileage, valued at over $ 4.2 million.

Volunteer rangers and assistant rangers staff the reserve continuously, and volunteer ranger positions are booked out three years ahead.

The assistant ranger training program offers graduates and undergraduates the chance to train in conservation and park management, scientific research and monitoring methodology, and other skills not readily available in other training programs.

Gluepot Reserve has developed as a centre for scientific research. Thirteen Australian universities and research institutions run research projects on site, and many of these projects are helping solve wider problems of land degradation and biodiversity loss in Australia.

Bringing the dunes back to life

Group: Cottesloe Coastcare Association
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Formed 1995
Focus: Coastal weeds, erosion, litter, native vegetation

As far back as 1896, Western Australia’s Acting Surveyor General recorded a total absence of natural scrub on the Cottesloe dunes, severe erosion problems, sand drifts building up on adjoining properties and sheep and goats grazing freely.

That pressure is no less today, but instead of goats and sheep it comes from people—Cottesloe’s coast, one of the most visited places in Perth, is in danger of being loved to death.

Native vegetation survives in only a few small, precious areas, which are the focus of the volunteers who make up Cottesloe Coastcare Association.

‘With funding from the Natural Heritage Trust, Coastwest and the local council, we have built walkways and fencing to protect precious remnant vegetation that is now flourishing, said group member Robyn Benken.

‘Our ongoing planting program with local provenance seedlings has seen previously degraded areas coming alive with local varieties of spinifex, saltbush and coastal daisy.’

Protecting the five kilometres of heavily used coastline with a small band of volunteers is not easy, and engaging the local council and the community is vital.

‘Creating our own local information resources on our website and blog is important in informing and engaging the community,’ said Robyn.

‘All 66 local plants are illustrated and described on the website and the “flotsam” section describes some of the fascinating marine creatures that wash up on our shores.

‘This has proved a boon when working with local school children who visit the area to learn about local native plants and how they have adapted for survival on the sand dunes,’ she said.

‘On one excursion, a student found a bottle with a live west coast ctenotus lizard trapped inside. The students set it free— and the lizard was a good reminder of the often unexpected effects of leaving rubbish on our beaches.

‘The enthusiasm, interest and delight shown by students are our guarantee that the work begun by the Cottesloe Coastcare Association will continue.

‘We hope we can preserve these few precious remaining areas so that everyone can appreciate these plants that are so important in creating that elusive sense of place and “food for the soul” in our highly urbanised society.’

Striking a chord

Group: Irvinebank Landcare Group
Location: West of Innisfail, Qld
Formed: 2004
Focus: Urban bush regeneration

The Irvinebank Landcare Group knew it had struck a chord with its local community when there were tears during a landcare planting effort.

As part of a project to clean up and replant the slopes around Irvinebank State School, the group invited any student who had ever attended the school to plant a tree. The group had already earned its stripes cleaning up and replanting the local Gibbs Creek waterway, and the community responded enthusiastically to this new call.

People who had moved to nearby Herberton years ago came back to participate in the planting. Boys at the school planted their trees together in one area, and women in their 70s who had been to the school were so touched they cried as they planted their trees.

Irvinebank resident Ian Guthrie formed the group to clean up the weed-covered Gibbs Creek waterway, with the help of the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries. The project involved hundreds of hours and used every source of labour available, from Work-forthe- Dole schemes to bringing in students and volunteers. The next step was deciding what to plant in place of the weeds.

‘Irvinebank is known for its great flora, so botanical experts were only too pleased to help,’ said Deborah Eastop from the Mitchell River Watershed Management Group. ‘A horticulturalist put together a list of suitable local plants, and scientists from CSIRO and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service added to the list.

‘Getting the right plants was a challenge. Some came from the native plant nurseries—others just weren’t available, so local seed was collected and propagated. We estimate $70 000 worth of volunteer effort went into the project,’ she said.

^{Irvinebank’s Moffat Gardens—bringing out the community spirit. Photo: Gabriel Crowley}

The project leaders always had broader aims in mind.

At the start of the project, Irvinebank Landcare Group chair Donna Meade said: ‘The planting will beautify the area, while helping raise awareness of the role riparian vegetation plays in the health of rivers and creeks, including stabilising banks and reducing erosion. It will also help local residents and visitors appreciate the diversity of plant life native to the Greater Irvinebank area.’

Involvement in landcare has brought out the town’s community spirit, and once a year residents celebrate the region’s cultural and natural heritage at the annual Irvinebank festival.

‘Once landcare started, the town really changed,’ said Ian Guthrie.

This article is based on ‘Sisal spurs Irvinebank Landcare Group to greater achievements’ by Gabriel Crowley (www.landmanager.org.au/view/index.aspx?id=435357)

The sounds of landcare

Group: Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek
Location: Hobsons Bay, Vic.
Formed: 2001
Focus: Rivercare

When the piano accordion strains of Zorba the Greek drifted over Kororoit Creek one Sunday afternoon, few listeners realised they were really being treated to the sounds of landcare.

The music was part of a determined effort by the Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek to reach the diverse, multicultural communities of Hobsons Bay.

Kororoit Creek rises near Gisborne and empties into Hobsons Bay, between Altona and Williamstown. Once a picnic spot favoured by early settlers, many years of industrial activity and neglect turned it into a sludgy, polluted drain.

A group of citizens formed Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek in 2001 to restore the creek —no small task—and protect the habitat of the endangered Swift parrot. They knew that to be successful the project would need the backing of the area’s diverse communities. Members started forming networks with other community groups, and multicultural groups were an obvious place to start.

^{Kororoit Creek—once a sludgy, polluted drain.}

The group used a piano accordionist to woo the Greek community. Eventually the Sudanese and Baha’i communities, scouts, ramblers, Lions Club members, industry employees, conservation groups and 10 local primary schools all participated in clean-up activities. More than 1000 people have now been involved in planting over 30 000 indigenous trees, shrubs and ground covers.

Because it was a long-term project, schoolchildren were an important target group. The Friends brought more than 300 of them to the creek to learn about how the waterway works and to plant trees. It has been an active way of giving the children a sense of ownership and responsibility for the place.

Parts of the creek meander through an industrial landscape, and the group has been instrumental in getting businesses to take responsibility for their own creek frontages. The Friends have developed partnerships with some major companies, and encouraged local businesses to join in.

The Friends recognise the importance of the creek being visible to the community and believe that when people enjoy being around the waterway they’re more likely to feel protective of it in the long term.

Members lobbied the state government to complete the Federation Trail along the creek, and the Friends are now working with local councils to develop links from the Hobsons Bay Shared Trail to the Federation Trail to Werribee, and to the metropolitan shared walking and cycle trail.

Rising from the ashes

Group: ACT Land Keepers
Location: Canberra, ACT
Formed: 2005
Focus: Regeneration of burnt-out areas to restore native forests

The bushfires that swept through in the Australian Capital Territory in January 2003 dramatically changed the landscape. They destroyed over 500 homes, burnt 70 per cent of the territory, destroyed 90 per cent of its pine plantations and stripped water catchments bare. Streams were choked with sediment and water storages turned turbid.

The devastation led to a sense of disconnection by residents from the landscapes of their bush capital. They now saw the environment as something to be feared and curbed.

Fire-recovery efforts on infrastructure began almost immediately. A new water-treatment works constructed in record time secured water supplies degraded by the fires, but biodiversity surveys and assessments showed the need for much work to repair burnt landscapes.

The community responded. Greening Australia Capital Region, working with the CSIRO, the Australian National University and the University of Canberra, formed the Re-greening Canberra Alliance to reconnect Canberrans with their environment and, by using the best science available, repair the landscape.

The ACT Government joined the alliance to launch ACT Land Keepers to undertake the work and mobilise community volunteers. The program drew in thousands of Canberrans, including land managers, scientists, community volunteers and nongovernment organisations.

Converting 5000 hectares of burnt-out pine plantations to native forest in the Lower Cotter areas to protect the catchment for the future was a particular challenge. Volunteers collected seed, propagated plants and planted seedlings, as well as continuing routine maintenance and monitoring.

ACT Land Keepers has proved to be an effective partnership between community, government and science. Since 2005 it has held 285 community events, including planting activities, seed-propagation events, workshops and field days, presentations and site and nursery maintenance events.

The community has contributed more than 9500 volunteer people days and over 44 500 community hours to conserving rural and non-urban land. Individual volunteer involvement, excluding school students, rose dramatically from the first year. More than 700 people participated in 2005, rising to 1500 individual participants by June 2008.

There are now over 3800 active volunteers on the ACT Land Keepers volunteer database.

The partnership has seen large areas of the Lower Cotter well on their way to recovery, with volunteer efforts complementing the process of natural regeneration.

The Australian Landcare Council

The Australian Landcare Council (ALC) is the Australian Government’s key natural resource management advisory body. At the time of this book’s publication, the council was in recess and being reviewed in the context of the government’s new program arrangements.

Its enabling legislation—the Commonwealth Natural Resources Management (Financial Assistance) Act 1992—gives the council a broad mandate to advise the government on NRM priorities and strategies in order to achieve efficient, sustainable and equitable management of natural resources in accordance with ecologically sustainable development principles.

Although much of its deliberations and policy advice focused principally on the three major Australian Government NRM programs—the Natural Heritage Trust, the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water, and the National Landcare Program—the council has also considered other relevant government NRM legislation in its regular post-meeting ministerial advice.

^{Dedication to the task by landcare volunteers is ‘hugely inspirational’.}

‘The ALC has acted as a change agent in the NRM sector, encouraging landholders to embrace sustainability initiatives,’ said chairman Bobbie Brazil.

‘Its broad-based membership—appointed by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry—across the range of issues in the NRM sector was able to reach a strong degree of consensus on many apparently intractable problems that confront us in the task of caring for our country.

‘Members had an important role acting as a policy and communication link between government ministers and the landcare community and other key stakeholders,’ she said.

‘The council sought to promote the landcare movement as a key delivery mechanism for sustainable natural resource management and to secure long-term financial investment by government and the private sector.

‘We relied heavily on our on-ground connections and networks to ensure ground-truthed advice on matters as complex as market-based instruments, the monitoring and evaluation of the facilitator and coordinator network and Indigenous involvement in landcare and Caring for Country,’ she said.

‘Our visits to regions around Australia confirm the “landcare army” is alive and well and quietly getting on with the job of protecting, maintaining and restoring our landscapes. Their dedication to this task is hugely inspirational.’

Facilitators and Coordinators

Facilitators and coordinators play a crucial role assisting landcare groups to manage land sustainably.

They enable people to learn voluntarily by becoming involved in landcare activities, to share information and experiences, and to trial new ways to improve NRM practices and manage change for the long term.

Facilitators and coordinators operate in various ways at the national, state, regional sub-catchment and local level.

National

Established in 1990 under the National Landcare Program (NLP), the National Landcare Facilitator (NLF) Project supports landcare and gives the government independent advice on the challenges for community engagement and participation in NRM programs.

The project also advises the government on community NRM achievements.

Backed by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the NLF supports the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country initiative.

Apart from advising and informing the government, the NLF’s objectives have been to raise awareness of local opportunities to adopt sustainable land-management practice through the facilitator and coordinator networks. A more recent objective has been to support the government’s state and territory-based facilitator network.

Since 1990 there have been four National Landcare Facilitators. Andrew Campbell (1990–92) and Helen Alexander (1993–96) were in the role during the NLP’s early years, when landcare-practice groups learned about degradation and trialled improved methods for sustainable land use and management.

From 1997 to 2002, Lachlan Polkinghorne held office during Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) phase, when the focus shifted managing on-ground projects.

The current facilitator, Coral Love, has been in the role since 2002, through the NHT2 phase and its regional delivery approach. She is now working with the Caring for our Country initiative.

Coral Love
National Landcare Facilitator

‘As NLF over the past six years, I’ve had a wonderful opportunity to observe first-hand how the landcare approach has worked across Australia. I’ve also been privileged to meet many hundreds of coordinators and facilitators and members of landcarepractice groups, visiting their projects and witnessing their work.

‘Although Landcare’s success is multidimensional, I believe its focus on the people in the landscape has been its key success factor. These days the landcare concept has matured to the point that you don’t have to be in a ‘landcare’ group to be a landcarer.

‘Thousands of coastal and urban volunteers and farmers across vast rural areas are using landcare practice to achieve their aims. Many Indigenous Australians identify with landcare as another way of expressing ‘caring for country’ and it’s been a cultural bridge to understanding and cooperation. It’s also been cited as a neutral platform for diplomatic discussions on a number of international issues.

‘As NLF I’ve enjoyed advocating the landcare approach to government and organising and facilitating professional development workshops for facilitators across the country. It has been important to present landcare stories at national and state forums and conferences and contribute to a range of reviews and advisory committees on the landcare approach.

‘In my experience, the roles of coordinators and facilitators, although quite demanding and complex, are vital to the ability of groups to maximise their success. Almost always, the most effective groups will have benefited from their support. With the right skills and appropriate guidance they can be remarkably effective.

‘The national landcare picture is an inspiration to me—so many people across every Australian landscape imbued with an immeasurable commitment to improving the way things are done, and to achieving sustainable land management. I’ve seen the same commitment in New Zealand and South Africa, and in the practitioners I’ve spoken with from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom and Canada.

‘The upshot of the landcare phenomenon is the profound impact on our understanding and commitment to sustainable management of natural land, water and vegetation systems. It is a legacy that will pass on through many generations to come.

‘The professional landcare workforce operates on three tiers—at the national level through the National Landcare Facilitator program, and at the state, regional, sub-catchment and local levels through a network of facilitators and coordinators.’

State

Facilitators and coordinators at the state level support the Landcare approach in various ways. Their focus of land use ranges across farming, urban, coastal and indigenous communities.

Rick Kowitz
Queensland State Landcare Coordinator

‘In 1996, I threw my hat in the ring for the coordinator role with the Murilla Landcare Group. I had no idea that over the next 11 years landcare would entirely consume my role as a farmer.

‘As my landcare interest and commitments grew, the farming side became less intensive, and in early 2007, enticed by high property values, my wife and I decided to sell the farm we had moved to at Toowoomba several years previously.

‘My role as a local coordinator for the Murilla Landcare Group evolved into a sub-catchment planning facilitator, and over the next five years I worked with 12 sub-catchment groups in the Murilla and Tara Shires

‘I was initially sceptical about sub-catchment planning and doubted whether farmers would take it on, but to my surprise, many seemed to be excited by this new approach. For the first time they could see the big picture of their landscapes on sub-catchment maps we provided for the workshops. One innovative farmer near Miles described it as managing one big farm.

^{Rick Kowitz (right) talks with Innisfail farmer Paul Mizzi.}

‘Farmers also realised there were huge benefits in working together to tackle common issues such as weed and pest control, coordinated overland flow and nature conservation.

‘The plans were still highly focused on property-level sustainable farming practices, but there was more consideration for off-farm impacts and landscape condition than previously. Many of these plans formed the basis for successful funding proposals and subsequent on-ground works.

‘In 2003, soon after the regional arrangements were introduced, the Queensland Murray- Darling Committee offered me the regional landcare facilitator position. In this role, I supported nine landcare groups and their coordinators to work with farming communities to develop sub-catchment plans.

‘I found that the success of sub-catchment planning was very dependent on the skills and confidence of coordinators and their ability to engage and empower rural communities. They were also required to coordinate support teams for the groups, including technical expertise.

‘I was ready for the next challenge in 2006, when the Queensland State Landcare Coordinator position became available. It was clear that networks would be the key to having any influence on sustainable farming practices at a state level.

‘My first goal was to strengthen the NLP coordinator network. Although the budget was meagre, I used every opportunity to bring this group together, and then I travelled to them. I owe much to this network as they have been my arms and legs in this role.’

Regional, sub-catchment and local

Facilitators and coordinators are based at the regional, sub-catchment or local level and support and work with local community and volunteer groups and networks. There are more than 600 of them across Australia.

Funded from various sources, including the Australian Government and the state and territory governments, their roles vary from region to region. They may be employed through regional NRM bodies, local governments, catchment management authorities and trusts, landcare groups or networks and non-government organisations. Their role is to facilitate change and coordinate local activities rather than provide the traditional ‘top-down’ advice.

Bayne Geikie
Waterwatch coordinator
ACT Water Watch

‘When I first started working with Waterwatch I was a Landcare Ranger working for the ACT Government. I’d never taught before, so the learning curve was steep and tremendous.

‘It was tough in the beginning when the ACT Government set up the coordinator network. The first year was only one day a week and I was housed in a garage with an uncarpeted concrete floor, swelteringly hot in summer, bone-achingly cold in winter. It took a lot of personal commitment to stay on.

‘However, working with students and volunteers is the best part of the job, and now that my position is sponsored by ActewAGL, I can bring the utility’s considerable resources to the benefit of building the landcare capacity of the community.’

Max Skeen
Regional landcare coordinator
Wimmera Catchment Management Authority, Vic.

‘Back in the 1980s when I was working in a native plant nursery and growing trees for farms in north-west Victoria, I remember the spirited discussions with farmers asking for non-native, Western Australian or fast-growing plants, saying things like, “I don’t want to have to wait 20 years to see them grow” or “Can I get away with one row because two rows will take up too much space?”

‘In spite of this, tree planting remains the one action and image clearly linked to landcare.

‘Since then we have seen the high level of community involvement propel landcare headlong into an era of community-led environmental action.

‘While the success of landcare in reshaping the landscape is evident, the more influential achievement is the growth of maturity, learning and understanding that communities have for their own patch.’

Trish Rigby-Christophersen
Caring for our Country
Indigenous Land Management Facilitator
Northern Land Council’s Caring for Country Unit, NT

‘As the Caring for our Country Indigenous Land Management Facilitator in the Territory’s northern region, I focus on access and equity issues and building partnerships.

‘I spend a lot of time travelling and talking to new and emerging groups about Commonwealth programs, and more recently the Caring for our Country initiatives.

‘Developing land- and sea-country plans to guide managers, for example, enables people to continue living on and looking after their country, while providing valuable environmental services to various stakeholders.

‘My job depends on having good communication strategies and community networks. This helps me to promote cultural and NRM initiatives that complement traditional ecological knowledge and practices in managing natural assets, heritage values and the sustainable use of resources.’

^{‘Landcare is about relationships. It’s about people’s relationships to place, and to each other.’ — Jodie Epper, executive officer, Tasmanian Landcare Association}

Darren Williams
State landcare and industry coordinator Bairnsdale, Vic.

‘I’ve worked in various landcare roles during the last decade, including facilitator with East Gippsland Landcare, and started in my current position of State Landcare and Industry Coordinator in August 2007.

‘Coordinators or facilitators need to have a strong empathy with their community, and it’s important to recognise the huge wealth of knowledge, skill and experience that already exists within communities.

‘It’s all about listening, encouraging, and being supportive of others. The work of an effective coordinator or facilitator should mostly go unnoticed. It’s about leading from behind and encouraging the growth, development and potential of others.

‘It’s so important to support the volunteers who are filling executive positions. That doesn’t mean doing all the work for them, but ensuring that they have the information, knowledge and skills to run a healthy, vibrant and effective Landcare group.’

Jodie Epper
Executive officer, Tasmanian Landcare Association Hobart, Tas.

‘Being part of the army of landcare volunteers who make up the Tasmanian Landcare Association brings me great pride and a sense of privilege.

‘I’m constantly in awe of the commitment, vision and sheer dedication of these people. These local experts hold so much of the local NRM knowledge, and continue to live there long after the latest project officer’s 12-month contract is finished.

‘Landcare is about relationships. It’s about people’s relationships to place and to each other. Without the structures and support that foster and build those relationships to land and to people, there is no landcare.

‘I do what I do because I believe in it. I believe that once people have good information and good relationships, the keepers of that information will do good land management.’

Lyn Dohle
Soil and land management consultant,
Rural Solutions
Kangaroo Island, SA

‘When I first arrived as a fresh uni graduate in 1989, Kangaroo Island was predominantly a wool-growing area, but was facing the loss of the wool floor price and increased farming costs. It was in rural crisis.

‘Landcare become the thing that united the island. It worked initially because the first group was started by some leading farmers on the island, so landcare was never seen as that ‘greenie movement—it had credibility from the start.

‘As the island’s first soils officer, I became involved as there was no appointed landcare officer there. I supported the groups to form, provided technical advice, helped write up numerous grant applications and went to many night meetings.

‘Eventually the island had 13 landcare groups covering almost all of its farmland. It’s one of the highest rates of adoption anywhere in the country.’

Mark Brown
Regional landcare program coordinator,
South West Catchments Council Bunbury, WA

‘I had a very early introduction to agriculture, living in rural regions when I was young.

‘I studied environmental science so that I could help farmers continue their work and still protect the environment. I worked as a local landcare coordinator and am now the regional landcare program coordinator in charge of running sustainable agriculture and salinity programs for the South West Catchments Council.

‘I’ve had some great experiences working with the community in landcare.

‘A lot of landcare work is piecemeal, but each little bit adds up. When you’ve made a small difference to a little area of land then the neighbour starts to think of how that could work on their place.

‘The roles of landcare coordinators are constantly changing and evolving in small communities and remote regions. They can make a huge difference, not only to on-ground results, but in terms of attitude changes to the environment.’

^{‘A lot of landcare work is piecemeal, but each little bit adds up’ — Mark Brown, regional landcare program coordinator.}

Rod Dowie
Coordinator,
Southern Fleurieu Sustainable Agriculture Project Fleurieu Peninsula, SA

‘For the past three years I’ve been coordinating and managing the NLP-funded Southern Fleurieu Sustainable Agriculture Project. Being a coordinator for such a large project is both daunting and exciting.

‘The most enjoyable part of my work is dealing directly with farmers. I can’t think of anything better than chewing the fat with a bunch of the locals discussing all things agricultural.

‘Being a coordinator is a challenging role. You need to have a broad range of skills and qualities—as a diplomat, an agronomist, a problem solver, a humorist, a computer whiz, a writer, an organiser, a leader, a photographer, a generalist, an expert, a talker, a walker, a driver— a survivor!’

Kim Krebs
Landcare support
Murray Catchment

‘I began working with Landcare a few years after the Angry Anderson Challenge—an experience that enabled the landcare community to realise it could do big projects, manage its own staff and set new precedents for grassroots NRM decision making and practice.

‘Being a landcare facilitator is humbling and empowering. You work with motivated people who want to make a difference at the paddock scale.

‘People are prepared to open up their minds to your ideas and they become flexible about their business. They want to be adaptive and progressive—it’s a privileged position.

‘When you start a conversation with these people, you’re part of a toolbox of options that creates a more resilient rural community. It’s been an extremely satisfying experience working with the people of the Upper Murray Landcare Groups.’

^{Kim Krebs with landholder in Murray CMA area.}

Landcare Australia Ltd

The Australian Government’s 1989 commitment to fund landcare and its announcement of the 1990s as the Decade of Landcare reflected the realisation that government alone could not solve Australia’s land degradation problems.

^{Landcare Australia CEO Brian Scarsbrick}

Landcare’s long-term survival depended on support from all sectors of the community, including the corporate community.

In consultation with the states and territories, the government formed Landcare Australia Ltd (LAL) to raise awareness about landcare, and to raise corporate funds and encourage community participation in landcare.

Set up at arm’s length from the government, LAL was able to form partnerships with businesses and the wider community. The company was run by a board of directors with representatives from community landcare in each state and territory, the Commonwealth, business, the National Farmers’ Federation and the Australian Conservation Foundation.

‘Starting with just four staff in a small Sydney office, Landcare Australia had to focus on achievable and realistic outcomes, while staying true to the aim of changing Australian attitudes to the land,” said chief executive officer Brian Scarsbrick.

‘A consultant’s report said Landcare Australia would struggle to raise corporate funding, and the first national survey into awareness of landcare after 12 months seemed to confirm this—it showed that it was just 22 per cent.

‘It was unheard of in those days for governments to put large sums of money into promotion. The key was to undertake landcare promotions in partnership with sponsoring companies to build our brand— the ‘caring hands’ logo,’ he said.

As landcare began forming faster than predicted, and as its success on the ground was mirrored by rising awareness, more companies became interested.

Landcare Australia began raising funds for on-ground projects. The Angry Anderson Challenge with Channel Nine’s A Current Affair involved Landcare Australia in coordinating the planting of one million trees along the River Murray over one week.

This was followed by Olympic Landcare, a three-year project to plant millions of trees in catchments around capital cities and along the route taken by the Olympic torch. Thousands of city people turned out to help.

Its success in raising community awareness of landcare enabled LAL to shift its focus from awareness and education activities to fundraising for on-ground projects through corporate partnerships.

‘Landcare Australia has achieved outcomes no-one believed possible. It now raises more than $10 million in cash and in-kind sponsorship a year from the corporate sector and over $35 million in advertising value of media coverage each year,’ said Brian.

Landcare Australia has more than 35 major corporate partnerships and has established a carbon trading pool for environmental plantings, Landcare CarbonSMART, which received accreditation from the Australian and NSW governments.

A Roy Morgan poll found that national awareness of landcare and the ‘caring hands’ logo reached 85 per cent.

Landcare Australia’s corporate fundraising efforts have been recognised through the Australian Government’s Business and Community Partnership Awards and the Australian Financial Review Magazine’s sponsorship awards. The company was chosen as the preferred environmental partner of the Organising Committee for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

^{Landcare Australia–shift of focus to supporting on-ground activities.}

^{Winners of the National Landcare CarbonSMART Award at the 2008 National Landcare Awards, with actor Jack Thompson. From left: Mick Gawith (Hindmarsh Shire), Ron Dodds (Greening Australia), Rob Youl (Landcare CarbonSMART), Jack Thompson, Cr Darryl Argall (Hindmarsh Shire) and Karen and Brett Wheaton (Hindmarsh Landcare Network).}

The National Landcare Awards

The National Landcare Awards bring together finalists in 10 categories from every state and territory. By highlighting how ordinary people make extraordinary efforts for landcare, the awards take the landcare message to the wider community.

Winners take on the role of landcare ambassadors, with their stories promoted as outstanding examples of landcare. Winners have hosted many visitors to their farm or school, travelled to other areas to speak about landcare and featured in the media and information about the awards.

Good for business and the environment

Group: Woady Yaloak Catchment Group
Location: South west of Ballarat, Vic.
Formed: 1993
Focus: Catchment-wide projects

The Woady Yaloak Catchment (WYC) Group—a 2004 National Landcare Award winner—has come a long way since its formation 15 years ago.

From a few landholders taking on problems of rabbits, erosion, revegetation and pasture improvement, the group is now a sophisticated, catchment-wide body working for the benefit of business and the environment.

About 170 landholders involved in the Woady Yaloak Catchment Project share their knowledge, experience and commitment to the adoption of landcare solutions on farms.

Formed in the 1990s as an association of landcare groups in the area, the group retains the landcare group structure that enables each group to undertake local activities, and provides for regional representation from each area.

The Woady Yaloak catchment covers 120 000 hectares, with the natural outflow of the river at Lake Corangamite, a Ramsar-listed lake of international significance. Eighty per cent of the land is privately owned, with the rest mainly state forest.

In its first five years, the group established 4000 hectares of perennial pasture and 135 hectares of trees, stabilised 40 hectares of erosion and eliminated 200 000 rabbits.

Its second and third five-year plans were more ambitious, combining economic, social and environmental outcomes.

The plan brought together landholders, schools, local governments, the University of Ballarat, and the community to achieve major landscape change.

^{Landcare meeting—from a few landholders the WYC group has become a sophisticated, catchment-wide body.}

‘The group is now into its fourth five-year plan and has developed into an organisation that builds community cohesion, as a well as achieving environmental and production benefits,’ said project manager Cam Nicholson, who has been with the project from the start.

‘A vital component of the plan’s success was Alcoa of Australia’s involvement as a sponsor. Alcoa’s contribution of more than $900 000 to the project over 15 years has enabled us to undertake activities that may not be a high priority for government regional bodies, but are essential to keep community involvement and cohesion.

‘After 15 years of activity, investment of nearly $4.5 million by landholders and a further contribution of $3.7 million by partners, the project has seen some encouraging outcomes. These include significant increases in farm incomes, mostly due to productivity improvements and a big reduction in pest and weed populations.

‘We’ve also planted more than 1 million trees and protect 80 kilometres of waterways’, he said.

‘We publish an annual report, review progress and renew our direction every five years. And we conduct an independent audit to determine triple bottom-line— economic, social and environmental— outcomes. Every project conducted since 1993 is stored on our geographic information system.’

The group has a localised planning process, called neighbourhood groups, which encourages adjoining landholders to plan activities across farm boundaries.

Linking the deserts

Group: West Wimmera Tree Group
Location: West Wimmera, Vic.
Formed: 1997
Focus: Revegetation and biodiversity

Extensive mapping in the early 1990s showed that roadside vegetation between the Big and Little Deserts, and from the Wimmera River to the South Australian border, was rapidly declining in health and diversity, and ineffective for habitat and migration.

The West Wimmera Tree Group developed a plan that with volunteers it could plant four kilometres of trees a year and complete the links within 25 years. The first community planting weekend was run during the winter of 1997.

‘We’d found money through Landcare Australia for other projects, so whenever Darryl Argall, mayor of Hindmarsh Shire, asked about finance, I urged him not to worry,’ said Rob Youl of Landcare Australia.

‘This cavalier attitude wasn’t totally stupid because by now companies were approaching Landcare Australia looking for projects to sponsor.’

Clipsal, the South Australian manufacturers of electrical fittings, and Aveda, an international cosmetics company, were the first two major sponsors to support the project.

With federal funding and private sponsorship the main links were completed in four years and a bigger, more ambitious plan was put into place.

Project Hindmarsh has now reconnected the Big and Little Deserts with over 200 kilometres of high quality roadside vegetation. The deserts are now linked with other larger areas of vegetation such as the Glenlee Flora and Fauna Reserve and the Lake Hindmarsh Reserve.

The project has also protected and enhanced over 2000 hectares of crucial remnant vegetation.

^{Project Hindmarsh has protected and enhanced over 200 hectares of crucial remnant vegetation.}

The key to Project Hindmarsh’s success has been the 11 annual Hindmarsh Landcare planting weekends. More than 300 volunteers donate their time to plant trees and understand how farmers work with the environment.

‘The annual planting weekend is the highlight of my year,’ said Darryl Argall. ‘It’s a sensational weekend. We have Melbourne lawyers and doctors and accountants out working alongside farmers.

‘The feeling on the ground is just great. This project isn’t just about creating links in the landscape. It is also about creating links between people.’

Project Hindmarsh is now managed by a committee which includes representatives from the Hindmarsh Landcare Network, the local community, the Wimmera CMA, Victorian National Parks Association, Landcare Australia and Greening Australia.

Darryl and his project team were delighted to receive the 2008 Landcare CarbonSMART Nature Conservation Award at the National Landcare Awards at Parliament House in Canberra.

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