Involved in the management of our environment: ACT Natural Resource Management Plan Vision Statement.... 

'By 2050 the Canberra Region community will be leading by example as the major urban centre in the Murray-Darling Basin where ecosystems are managed in balance with social and economic development. The ACT community and government will be working together on integrated, coordinated and knowledge-based management of the ACTs urban, rural and natural landscapes consistent with our identity as the 'bush capital' in Ngunnawal country. We will also be working closely with our regional neighbours, tackling issues of common concern. In this way priorities will be addressed to protect, enhance and sustain our biodiversity, water quality and land condition.' 

The ACT Government supports this vision and commends the community input  working toward making it a reality. The ACT 2005 Landcare Awards recognised the extraordinary efforts community volunteers, rural landholders, non-government organisations and Government agencies in the ACT and adjoining NSW are making to protect, enhance and sustain our biodiversity, water quality and land condition. 

Waterwatch, Landcare and Park Care groups in the ACT are members of Catchment Groups that provide a local network for environmental volunteers. Waterwatch, Park Care and Rural Landcare are supported by Environment ACT, part of the Chief Ministers Department, while Parks and Places, part of the Department of Urban Services, supports the Urban Landcare groups. Implementation of the Natural Heritage Trust in the ACT is based on a partnership with the ACT Government, which at least matches the Australian Government funds with cash or in-kind support under the 'Living Environment' banner.  

Held once every two years, the Landcare Awards celebrate the valuable contribution made by individuals and groups in regional and urban communities. ACT winners will be flown to Melbourne to contest other state and territory finalists in the 2006 National Landcare Awards. National winners will be announced in October 2006 at the Landcare and Sustainable Landscapes International Conference. 

The stories of the Award winners below provide interesting and valuable insights into community involvement in natural resource management in our local area. The stories were written by Bina Brown of Media Matters International Pty Ltd with the support of Environment ACT. Perhaps you too want to become more involved, if so, contact the Regional Natural Resource Management facilitator on 6207 7131. 

Winners in the 2005 ACT Landcare Award Categories were:

The ACT Landcare awards are held on alternate years. Finalists from state and territory awards then go on to the national awards. A list of national award winners is available at www.landcareaustralia.com.au/awards.asp

National Landcare program Individual Landcarer Award: Tom Baker

Committed conservationist Tom Baker says one of the highlights in more than 20 years of working as a volunteer in landcare in this region has been the official declaration of several nature reserves in the Queanbeyan region. “The gazettal of these nature reserves was based upon considerable survey information volunteers had helped to gather,” says Tom. Included among the spectacular nature reserves declared by the NSW Parliament are Stoney Creek, Cuembun and Wanna Wanna. 

“It is very satisfying to get results like that,” says Tom, the 2005 recipient of the National Landcare Program Individual Landcarer Award.  “These now provide stepping stones for a future vision of interconnected natural ecosystems in this region.”

Val Wiseman, ACT Natural Resource Management Advisory Committee member and member of the ACT Landcare Awards judging panel, said Tom Baker had been a tireless and dedicated environmental worker for many years. “His work is noted for its meticulous research, attention to detail and creative flair all combined with practical on ground skills. Such a combination is quite unusual and hence very valuable,” said Val.

“For example, Tom developed the concept of Radio Landcare and has worked hard to make it a reality, utilising a previously little used technology to communicate the landcare message. He has contributed much time and effort to organisations like Upper Murrumbidgee Catchment Coordinating Committee where his enthusiasm for researching for submissions and contributing original and creative ideas to discussions are really appreciated,” she said.

Tom, a retired public servant (including eleven years with the Department of the Environment) and with a background in horticulture, can recall some hard-fought battles over the last two decades including protecting the natural systems of the Queanbeyan Escarpment, and saving pockets of bushland within urban Queanbeyan. There were also the more rewarding projects such as operating indigenous plant nurseries. “I do it because I am passionate about how we look after our land, plants and animals and I enjoy doing my bit to get it on the agenda,” he says.

“Land that is marginal and unproductive is only a drag on the public and private purses and should be looked after and brought up to a condition where it can be devoted to supporting biodiversity buffers and producing secure, clean water in this dry country of ours,” says Tom.

Tom’s devotion toward improving the local environment and lobbying for better natural resource management and landcare commitment includes participation in numerous activities and groups such as the Molonglo Gorge Recreational Reserve, Greening Australia, Monaro Conservation Society, Queanbeyan Landcare, Carwoola Landcare, Queanbeyan/Molongolo Catchment Group and Readymix Quarry on Cooma Road.

Mr Baker says his motivation to be active for so long comes from the excitement of working constructively with other volunteers, local government and sympathetic corporate groups, engaging the community and coming up with new and novel approaches. Mr Baker has been a mover in recent years in a number of novel projects including the well-patronized, inaugural “Along the Molonglo” Art Exhibition and associated competitions that started in 2005 with both the Queanbeyan and Canberra Art Societies. “It has been a wonderful way to capture the spirit of the Molonglo,” says Tom.

Mr Baker has also been a key instigator of Radio Landcare, which has operated for five years on local community radio stations 2XX 98.3 and QBN FM 96.7. The large number of landcare related activities underway in Queanbeyan and the ACT give Tom plenty to talk about Tuesdays (2XX) and Sundays (Qbn FM). “All these things give you energy and a sense of excitement,” says Tom. 

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Murray Darling Basin Commission Rivercare Award: CAMPFIRE Monitoring Group 

When a group of committed volunteers started monitoring Canberra’s waterways twelve years ago, little did they know just how significant the information they had been collecting would be. Waterwatch, Landcare and Park Care members who had been working tirelessly collecting data on the health of waterways throughout the ACT had information that would later be used to accurately determine the impact of the 2003 bushfires on Canberra’s waterways and track the recovery. 

As the ACT community reeled from the bushfires which scorched over 70 per cent of the Territory, blackened 90 per cent of the parks and reserves, burnt down 530 houses and caused four deaths, a team of dedicated community volunteers began to re-group and re-organize. Out of the ashes came a unique opportunity to develop, plan and initiate a community water quality-monitoring program to investigate the ecological affects of the bushfires on our waterways.

The program become known as CAMPFIRE (Community Assessment Monitoring Program for Fire Impacted River Ecology) and went on to win the Murray Darling Basin Commission Rivercare Award in the 2005 ACT Landcare Awards. Murray-Darling Basin Commission communications manager Lawrie Kirk says it is the work of groups such as The CAMPFIRE Monitoring Group that helped provide information for the bigger picture. 

“The Murray-Darling Basin is a network of streams and rivers stretching from the Condamine in south east Queensland to the mouth of the Murray River in South Australia. What happens in one part of the Basin will impact on other parts and it is essential that we understand large scale changes to effectively manage the Basin's river resources,” says Mr Kirk. 

“Whilst this is being addressed by the Sustainable Rivers Audit - a program designed to measure the health of the rivers at this large Basin scale - it is the work of groups such as The CAMPFIRE Monitoring Group that will provide unique pieces of information for the total catchment "jigsaw". If we are to look at the complete and accurate catchment "picture" then we will need to have all the individual pieces in place,” he says. 

Mr Kirk says the Murray-Darling Basin Commission is interested in Rivercare work, like that undertaken by CAMPFIRE, because healthy rivers sustain riverine habitats for our unique animals and plants; provide ongoing recreational, tourism and fishing opportunities; nurture cultural and spiritual values and reduce the costs of providing high quality water to communities and industries. “Any work undertaken by an individual or organisation like the CAMPFIRE group not only has an immediate effect on awareness but can also instil a longer term sense of stewardship or care about a river and a catchment,” he says. 

ACT Waterwatch Facilitator and CAMPFIRE coordinator Nigel Philpot began to get organized immediately after the fires. “It was a remarkable time in Canberra’s history. The Canberra community response to the disaster was extraordinary. Everyone wanted to get involved and be active in post-bushfire recovery programs. 

“CAMPFIRE was able to offer a unique opportunity for volunteers to become part of a network that collected meaningful information about the health of our waterways. Since the fires more than 200 volunteers from 30 independent community groups have monitored water quality at over 50 sites across the ACT,” says Mr Philpot. 

CAMPFIRE specifically identified opportunities for the community to become involved in on-ground remedial action including riparian re-vegetation, stream stability projects, weed control and litter removal. Mr Philpot says the positive impact of CAMPFIRE provided a clear case for why there should be greater government and industry support for environmental programs like Waterwatch if volunteers are to be kept successfully engaged.  

“For many years before the January 2003 bushfires, Waterwatch groups had been regularly monitoring the health of local waterways. One example is the Friends of Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve who have been monitoring the health of Tidbinbilla River since 1994 (the longest running Waterwatch group in Australia). 

“This amazing nine years of pre-fire monitoring data is the only data that exists for the upper Tidbinbilla River. That has enabled us to determine the impact the fires have had on this waterway. Who would have thought 12 years after the initiation of Waterwatch, that community groups could provide such significant information on one of Canberra’s most important waterways,” says Mr Philpot.

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Australian Government Bushcare Nature Conservation Award: The Gale Precinct Interim Community Management Committee

The 120 hectare Gale precinct near Queanbeyan could become a Tidbinbilla style recreational facility pending the outcome of a current Native Title land claim. The Gale Precinct Interim Community Management Committee – the committee managing the regenerated bushland site –  says it is promoting a recommendation made almost a decade ago by former CSIRO botanist Dr Peter Barrer to create a nature reserve similar to Tidbinbilla.

The Gale Precinct Interim Community Management Committee – an effective partnership of government, community, indigenous and corporate sponsors - was the winner of the Australian Government Bushcare Nature Conservation Award as part of the 2005 ACT Landcare Awards. 

Committee Chairman and dedicated conservationist Tom Baker says the Committee’s overriding mission is to continue to restore the area to its natural beauty and protect its ecological and heritage values. “Gale has an unusually diverse mixture of native grass and understorey species set in eucalypt woodland, forming a significant wildlife corridor link between the eastern escarpment and remnant woodlands to the west,” he says. 

“This endangered ecosystem also provides habitat to threatened fauna and flora, enhanced by the Queanbeyan River corridor on its eastern margin”. The Committee is about half way through (June 2005) a five-year interim Action Plan to secure a significant grassy box woodland and reverse the worst of the degradation it has suffered while maximising community support and involvement. 

Post 2007 the aim is to create a suitable Crown Land Reserve Trust with appropriate guidelines and its own plan of management that will recognise its unique status and value to the community including recognition of its Aboriginal heritage and values. According to Mr Baker the Committee is hoping to create a reserve trust with Indigenous goals and representation in the make-up of a permanent management body, as a potential key element of a negotiated resolution of a current Native Title land claim. 

This body may also coordinate nearby land managers and owners of natural areas to create a contiguous protected zone. Some of the medium and longer term management actions include: a new bird and animal survey and assessment of the condition of archaeological and Aboriginal sites and required conservation works; the formalisation of a broader management group including the Aboriginal Community, in line with the recommendations of the 1995 Gale Precinct Public Hearing and declaration of a longer term management option such as a reserve under section 255 of the Local Govt Act, a crown reserve under the NSW Lands Act or gazettal as a  Nature or Flora Reserve under the National Parks & Wildlife Service Act of NSW. 

“The area can also be used to recognise the past Indigenous occupation and has the potential to provide the location of a cultural, environmental and educational resource, in line with the recommendations in the 1993 Dr Peter Barrer report on the Bushland and Grassland Resources of Queanbeyan,” says Mr Baker. “One thing the Committee is promoting is Dr Barrer’s recommendations to create a ‘Tidbinbilla style recreational facility’,” he says.  

The ACT Landcare Award, which is made to a community organisation, a group or a person for excellence and innovation in implementing nature conservation activities on land outside formal parks and reserves, recognizes the strategic work already done by the Committee over the past three years. This work has been aimed at protecting Gale from inappropriate and illegal vehicle access and to arrest serious degradation from soil erosion, rubbish dumping, tree felling, spread of invasive plants and deterioration of heritage and archaeological sites. 

Some of the work already done has involved closing tracks, erecting extensive fencing and rock barrages, rehabilitation, community consultation, seed collection, planting, direct seeding and control of weeds. ACT Natural Resource Advisory Committee member and member of the ACT Landcare Awards judging panel, Val Wiseman says the Gale Precinct bushland has benefited greatly from the tireless work of the Gale Precinct group. 

“The group lobbied numerous stakeholders to secure the land and prevent access by unauthorised users who were dumping rubbish, causing erosion and damaging the vegetation. They have also worked very hard to do the on ground work necessary to rectify some of the damage - erecting barriers to traffic and motor bikes, stabilising erosion and revegetating areas,” says Mrs Wiseman. 

“Such work on the edges of towns is not always easy as there is a need to constantly educate neighbours about the issues and opportunities, a challenge that the group has met with enthusiasm and success,” she says.

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Rural Press Landcare Primary Producer Award: Michael Shanahan, owner, Tidbinbilla Station

The official end to the drought in the ACT is good news for the owner of Tidbinbilla Station, Michael Shanahan, who is still replanting trees lost in the 2003 bushfires. “We are all set to go with drilling equipment and tube stock in the thousands,” says Shanahan, displaying all the enthusiasm he is renowned for in conserving the 1400 hectare property south of Canberra.

Earlier attempts to plant since the fire proved to be “a waste of time” thanks to the worst drought in more than 100 years. Bushfire recovery has instead focused on rebuilding fences, including along the entire length of Paddy’s River through the property. 

Mr Shanahan’s tireless work planning and acting on sustainable land use and water management best practice along with revegetating large parts of the property was recognized at the 2005 ACT Landcare Awards when he was announced the winner of the ACT Landcare Primary Producer Award. Colin Baulch, Rural Press General Manager and sponsor of the Award said it was unquestionable that everyone, everywhere needs to support landcare. 

Mr Baulch says the Award showcased people who are making such a huge difference in protecting and repairing our environment. Mr Shanahan, an active member of the local Landcare group and member of the Rural Landholders Association, says his family who have owned the property for the past 35 years, has always been committed to land care, with a particular focus on weed eradication. 

“Our program hasn’t changed one iota. What has changed is the speed with which we have done some work such as fencing. Our work has been focused on weeds,” says Mr Shanahan. He nominates the eradication of blackberries as the big project where the most money is spent while the project that takes the most time is African lovegrass – a weed he says would never have made it onto Tidbinbilla had it not been for its spread via the road network and the associated slashing of roadside vegetation. 

 “We have always done a lot of tree planting but having extra landcare money has sped things up,” he says. The native tube stock currently waiting to be planted has come mostly via the Greenfleet program where a portion of the registration paid on the ACT Government car fleet goes towards tree planting as a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Greenfleet Australia is a not for profit organisation, that raises funds through voluntary contributions attached to car registration. Greenfleet plants native trees to offset carbon dioxide emissions and promotes the development of fuel-efficient technologies to reduce emissions.

Mr Shanahan says that every spare dollar ends up back in land care initiatives in one way or another. “Naturally we concentrate on things that are going to give us a productivity gain but you have to look after the land,” he says.

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Westpac Landcare Education Award: Telopea Park School

Working with teenagers can be challenging at the best of times but Telopea Park School’s Annie Termaat had the winning formula when it came to helping the environment. 

The head of Science and the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program Coordinator at the government school in Canberra’s South identified two problem areas directly relating to the school grounds which the Year 7 students set about addressing: mynah birds and English trees. “We’ve put in place a couple of projects which look at these problems and which the students now really feel they own,” says Ms Termaat.

“In 2004 the students surveyed mynah birds in the school grounds and put the data toward a bigger study within the ANU while we continue to learn about native plants and what helps them to grow and how they attract native birds,” she says. 

The award of two Mitre 10 Junior Landcare Grants in 2004 and 2005, a Schools Community Industry Partnerships In Science grant and the 2005 Westpac Landcare Education Award are helping Telopea Park meet its longer term goal of attracting native birds to the school. The work towards this goal includes propagation of native plants and their planting throughout the school grounds. The Grants have been used to buy native plants and build and maintain a glasshouse as well as make several key excursions to learn about native plant life.

Ms Termaat organized an ecology expert from CSIRO to work with the students, visits to Black Mountain and the Botanical Gardens and visits from a representative of Friends of the Grasslands. This all helped to demonstrate to students a range of issues including native plants verses exotic plants, the importance and impact of fires on their regeneration, Indigenous landcare practices and waterway management. “All the students would now be aware of feral birds. Others have enjoyed watching the plants grow and flower,” she says. 

But it was the establishment of a pond – built as a permanent water source for native birds – within the school grounds that really captured the attention of students. “If you stood back and watched them putting this pond together you would think they were just mucking around…but they were organising themselves. I could have stood over them and told them what to do but then it would have been my project and not theirs. This way they own the project and they are very proud of it,” says Ms Termaat. “All these things are forever so we can use the pond for microscopy classes,” she says.

“The good thing about everything we have put in place is it is permanent and we can continue to build on what we have done … like work with the woodwork class to build breeding boxes for native birds.”

Ms Termaat says the 2005 Westpac Landcare Education Award prize– which was given to the school in recognition of its contribution to raising awareness, knowledge and understanding of Landcare among students and the community and for implementing Landcare practices on its own property – would go towards improving its environmental management practice site. She has purchased wheelie bins (factory seconds) to store soil and gravel and a watering system for the garden area. Shovels are still on the shopping list. 

Ms Termaat said the School would continue with activities that promote biodiversity, land and environmental management practices and Indigenous heritage. The grants really help because they provide the funds for short term projects – like the pond –and also provide students with experience managing funds and budgeting. 

Graham Paterson, Westpac's Head of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability, said he was proud to be involved with the ACT Landcare Awards. “Not only do they recognise people who are achieving great things in their local environment, this category helps students to gain a hands-on understanding of environmental issues that affect all Australians,” he said.

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Alcoa Landcare Community group Award: The North Belconnen Landcare Group 

When it comes to involving community groups in a single landcare project it would be hard pressed to beat a mix of “Joeys”, girl scouts, college students and Japanese exchange students. They are just some of the volunteers who are helping the North Belconnen Landcare Group (NBLG) replant riparian areas with local provenance reeds, rushes, trees and shrubs as well as building gabion weirs to reduce erosion. 

“Our best source of labour comes from a wide range of community groups most of whom have come to us through word of mouth,” says the NBLG on-site co-ordinator Lenore Hodgkinson. The NBLG records show over the last two years volunteers have contributed 1,200.75 hours towards improving the area, which is classed in the Territory Plan as Urban Open Space.

“It is great to see the level of enthusiasm from young people who continue to come back and help pull weeds long after their community service hours have ended,” says Lenore. “The Joey Scouts – who are only five or seven years old - and the Girls Brigade come as part of their regular meetings but they come back with their parents at various stages to keep the work going.” “Hopefully by working with people this young we are giving them an awareness of native plants and weeds,” she says. 

The Diamantina Scout Group, Joey Scouts, Maluiti Mob – a group of 15 young enthusiasts – and 35 girls from the 16th Canberra Girls Brigade Company have adopted their own “patches” which they weed and revegetate. After almost a decade of pulling weeds and replanting the NBLG group is starting to see the difference their band of volunteer workers has made, with water birds now inhabiting an area once overgrown with hawthorn and willows. “When we first started the wall of hawthorn was 20 metres high and 10 metres wide, you didn’t even know the water was there,” says Lenore. 

Established in 1994 by some enthusiastic local residents, the NBLG was the first landcare group established in the Ginninderra Creek Catchment and the driving force behind the formation of the Ginninderra Catchment Group and the Ginninderra Catchment Group Strategy 2000. The Strategy, in conjunction with the ACT Natural Resource Management Plan and the ACT Lowland Woodland Conservation Strategy, is the main guide for the Group’s activities. 

As well as working to protect and increase the size of existing high quality native grass patches through seed sowing and collection and negotiating changes to mowing regimes to ensure seed set, the Group has played a major role in the control of an invasive wasp species Vespula germanica or ‘European Wasp’. 

The realisation that many of the challenges facing the NBLG were not unique led the Group to sharing information about its techniques and projects via the Internet. NBLG’s own positive experience with an on-line forum for its members led to helping develop an on-line forum now know as ‘Envirotalk’, a not for profit Australian environmental discussion forum. Two years old, Envirotalk now has 1397 registered members and receives over 200,000 hits per month, making it one of the most popular environmental discussion forums in the country.  

The forum is broken into four main areas including, Envirotalk News, Community Issues, Environmental Issues and Technology.  As well as major areas on pests and their control discussion of regeneration techniques and land management feature heavily. Regular topics of discussion include weed control, ecology, innovation, endangered species, fire and its effects, land degradation, native grasslands and grassy woodlands, environmental law and policies, pollution, recycling, animal pests and general sustainability.  

Forum topics are moderated by volunteers from across Australia, most of whom are involved in other landcare groups, Bushcare, native plant societies, scientific research and education, professional revegetation companies, mine site rehabilitation, forestry and agriculture

In commenting on the Landcare Award – which is made to an outstanding community group that has adopted sound land management practices on public or private land and is working towards sustainable land use and/or enhancing or protecting an area on behalf of the community - Alcoa World Alumina Australia Managing Director Wayne Osborn said it was important to recognise the significant environmental achievements of people who think global and act local. “Their work to deliver local solutions to regional issues is matched by their enthusiasm to build a stronger community and we are proud to recognise and applaud them,” he said.

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2005 ACT Local Government Landcare Community Partnerships Award: Re-greening After the Fires Project 

They may be sitting in their offices sipping lattés, but Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) staff who buy their coffee from Café Brindabella are playing a vital role in the ongoing regeneration of the bush Capital. Every coffee bought in a takeaway cup from the Café incurs a twenty cent environmental levy which is passed onto Greening Australia and used in the ongoing revegetation program successfully designed to actively engage the Canberra community in bushfire recovery. 

Greening Australia executive officer Toby Jones says the DFAT involvement – which extends to members of the Department and Café staff actively participating in planting days around Canberra – is just one example of the strong and sustained community support for the program. “So many people are participating time and time again. It is inspiring. It is a long time since January 18 2003 but the enthusiasm to restore the landscape is alive and well,” says Mr Jones. 

Greening Australia partnered with ACT Forests, Environment ACT and the community to form the Regreening After the Fires Project, the winner of the 2005 ACT Local Government Landcare Community Partnerships Award. Public Relations account manager with Landcare Australia Helen Dawes says the work being done by the Regreening After the Fires Project demonstrates how Landcare, Local Government and the community work together to repair the environment, building a real sense of ‘community’. “It’s great to see the positive outcomes this project is having for the community. We commend all involved in the project,” says Mr Dawes. 

Ongoing partnerships exist between ACT Forests and Environment ACT who identify sites for regeneration and help with site preparation as well as the volunteer bush fire brigades who provide water tanks and research organizations such as the Australian National University who provide natural resource management knowledge. While the focus of revegetation under the winning partnership program has been steep hills and waterways prone to erosion, the Project partners and the thousands of community volunteers know that the surrounding district needs similar attention. 

“There are many areas that need to be addressed although an enormous job has already been carried out. The best way to appreciate it is go to somewhere like Mt McDonald, which affords great views of the Murrumbidgee River and Cotter Dam, and see what the community has done, but then look to the mountains beyond and see what still lies ahead” says Mr Jones. 

While the planting of more than 32,000 native trees, shrubs and grasses in defiance of drought (thanks to the commitment of volunteers to water and rewater the plants) has had positive results to date, it is reasonable to expect that the work will need to continue for a decade. Mr Jones says the turnout of 450 people to plant 5000 trees on Mt McDonald on National Tree Day on at the end of July was a outstanding example of the partnership in action, highlighting an extraordinary level of community support for the Project. 

“People continue to want to see their much-loved landscapes repaired and rejuvenated and are happy to give their time and effort to be part of the solution. The Project has been a tribute to community cooperation and determination. We should particularly acknowledge the growing family of bushfire recovery volunteers who keep digging deep to bring back our native vegetation and pass on a special thanks to those thousands of doers who week in, week out, are helping to turn our ‘lost’ landscapes into living ones,” says Mr Jones.

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Australian Government Landcare Regional Award: Molonglo Catchment Group for Molonglo Catchment Strategy 2004-24 

The Molonglo Catchment Group has partnered with Greening Australia to help roll out its award winning 20-year plan for integrated catchment management. Essential on-ground work identified in the plan as a priority for the 212,000 square kilometre catchment, which covers part of the ACT and straddles the NSW border, includes river restoration work and a reduction in the amount of sediment getting into the river system. 

Lynton Bond, the President of the Molonglo Catchment Group, said Greening Australia’s considerable experience with similar on-ground work would help get the Strategy underway. The Molonglo Catchment Group’s Strategy was the winner of the Australian Government Landcare Regional Award at the 2005 ACT Landcare Awards. The ACT Landcare Award is made to a Natural Resource Management region for excellence and innovation in creating partnerships with their landcare community, for natural resource and environmental management. 

The 2004-24 Strategy builds on the valuable work of local communities and landcare groups over the last decade and contains specific, achievable and measurable targets. According to the Molonglo Catchment Group the environmental health of the catchment is declining. “With pressures including the growth and expansion of major urban centres and rural residential areas, human activity will make even more demands on the catchment’s natural resources. Many of the existing threats the catchment currently faces will intensify,” it says. 

“The Molonglo Catchment Strategy aims to improve the health of all landscapes by 2024. Healthy environments have good quality air, water and soil, and viable ecosystems to maintain these.” Mr Bond said another important development in the Strategy was the appointment of Heather Colman as a new coordinator, whose initial role would be the development of a communications strategy. “We are keen to make the wider community aware of the role they can take in managing our environment. It includes providing information on the sorts of things they could plant in their gardens which minimise the spread of weeds and maximise wildlife,” says Mr Bond. 

“What we were told to do 20 years ago may not necessarily be the right thing now. For example, we know that Pyracantha and Cottoneaster can be readily spread by birds and end up in places we don’t want them. Even some native plants thought to be beneficial, such as some acacias and grevilleas species, are demonstrating they, too, can become a problem.” Mr Bond says part of the communications strategy would be the production of material explaining what the Molonglo Catchment is and its importance in terms of the way households manage their land and water whether it’s a small backyard or a broadacre farm. 

Other initiatives include strategically placed signs explaining the catchment and, gutter signage to help make people more aware that any water that falls in the ACT will end up in the Murrumbidgee River.

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Alcan Landcare Indigenous Community Award: Riparian Rehabilitation on Upper Tuggeranong Creek Project 

It is early days for the Riparian Rehabilitation on Upper Tuggeranong Creek Project but part of its aim is to engage Indigenous youth in the restoration of the last remaining natural section of Tuggeranong Creek. 

The Project, which was commended for the Alcan Landcare Indigenous Community Award, hopes to facilitate increased interaction between Indigenous and non-indigenous people and allow Aboriginal Elders and others to share information and teach younger Indigenous people about different ways to view, use and interpret the environment while supporting the restoration of an important remnant of the natural landscape in an urban setting. 

This Award is made to an outstanding indigenous community group that has adopted sound land management practices on public or private land, is working towards culturally sustainable land use and/or enhancing or protecting an area on behalf of the community. Mark Annandale, Community Relations Manager for Alcan South Pacific Pty Ltd and a member of the judging panel for this Award said the commendation would encourage the Group to continue with the work they have started.  

“I believe the project has merit, the process they have adopted is to be commended because it is inclusive and will facilitate increased interaction between Indigenous and non-indigenous people. I would like to hear more from the project as it evolves and achieves real on-the-ground outcomes. This project sounds like a real reconciliation project. Please pass on my best wishes to the project team.” 

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