Sutton Landcare President’s Report for the period April 2015 to March 2016
Our activities over the past year have, as in previous years, been designed to increase our knowledge and practice of sustainable and regenerative environmental management, and hence give us the confidence to put this knowledge into practice on our own properties. We have followed our usual format of formal meetings and field visits at two monthly intervals, with each meeting or visit involving a topic addressed by a recognized expert in the field. Our agenda of topics reflected that suggested by our members at our December 2015 Christmas function.
We have continued to publicize each meeting in local newsletters and websites such as the Sutton Chatter, the Gundaroo Gazette, the YAN Newsletter and the Murrumbidgee Landcare Inc. website. My thanks go to the editors of these newsletters for their willingness to convey our activities to the wider community.
And through our webmaster Alan McNeill the results of our meetings and activities are reported in some detail on the Sutton Landcare website (see www.yan.org.au then click on Sutton) and also in the Sutton Chatter.
And thanks to Jane Vincent our activities are now publicized on the YAN facebook page and are given a regular airing by her each month when she hosts a session of Radio Landcare on FM 98.3. (See 2xxfm.org.au).
Activities for the past 12 months
Our program of events for the year just complete was as follows:
April 14 2015 Ecology of the Eastern Long- necked Turtle in Natural and Urban Wetlands
Bruno Ferronato, from the Institute for Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra, addressed us on the findings of his PhD work on the ecology of the eastern long-necked turtle in distinctive habitats, including natural and urban wetlands, and how human activities interfere with its natural behavior. Bruno had previously worked on turtle conservation projects in Brazil, Peru and the USA.
June 9 2015 The Story of Seeds We screened the movie Open Sesame: the Story of Seeds. This movie followed 83 US plaintiffs challenging Monsanto’s seed patents and seeking to protect organic seed growing from genetically modified organism contamination.
August 11 2015 How studying the History of Lake George can give us clues about our Future Climate in a Warming World
Dr Bradley Opdyke from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences addressed us on what the natural archive of Lake George can reveal about our future climate. He outlined the work being undertaken by a large multidisciplinary team looking at landscape evolution, archeology and paleoclimatic history of the Lake George region.
October 13 2015 Regenerative Agriculture Solutions for the Anthropocene Era
Dr Charles Massy, visiting Fellow at the ANU Fenner School, addressed us on this subject. His address drew heavily on his recently completed PhD thesis titled “Transforming the Earth: a study in the change in Agricultural Mindscapes”. He set out the ways in which regenerative agriculture could contribute to the amelioration of a number of the problems facing the global environment, many of which have been caused by the practices of industrial agriculture.
December 8 2015 Christmas Party at Gollion
Our last meeting for the year was our Christmas party at Jane and David Vincent’s property. Once again our Sutton Landcare Provincial French pastry cook Pascal Cazenave cooked us some delicious pizzas in the wood fired oven. Pascal also made good use of a bountiful Gollion cherry crop by cooking a delicious cherry brioche with crème patissier for desert. We finished the evening with a discussion of our achievements during 2015 and compiled a wish list of activities for 2016.
February 14 2016 Greater Goorooyarroo Revegetation- what has been achieved?
As the only Yass Valley landcare group located in the Greater Goorooyarroo region, Sutton Landcare has formed a close association with the Greater Goorooyarroo project activities. A number of our members have undertaken revegetation under this project.
Jeni Delandre, Project Manager with Greening Australia, who has overseen all the revegetation initiatives under the Goorooyarroo Project, led our group on an inspection of plantings of both direct seeding and tubestocks (at Marchien van Oostende and Arnold Dekker’s property in Read Road), and a whole of paddock large scale (25 ha) revegetation initiative (at Luke Graham’s property in Tallagandra Lane). Progress was most impressive at both properties.
At each site we also looked at the surrounding native grasses and learned how to recognize them and their characteristics and value as pasture species. Alison Elvin from Natural Capital and a recognized expert in this field, tutored us on this subject.
Attendance
Our activities have for the most part been particularly well attended. And by writing accounts of each activity for publication in various news sheets and on our website and facebook page, this provides an opportunity to share in what we are doing and what we have learned. Over the last few years we have built up a relatively large list of landcare followers and supporters in the Sutton/Gundaroo region and beyond.
My thanks go to Alan McNeill and Jane Vincent for their timely write-ups of our activities and their distribution to various outlets.
Landcarer of the Year Award
Toward the end of 2015 our committee chose Gay and Alan McNeill as landcarers of the year for Sutton Landcare. This reflects the sterling service Gay and Alan have provided our group since its inception more than 20 years ago. Gay and Alan go above and beyond anything we could ask from them. They are our genuine quiet achievers and the Sutton Landcare Group would not be the same without them. The award was presented to Gay and Alan at the YAN annual general meeting and dinner in Gundaroo in December 2015.
Clean up Australia Day
As in previous years a number of our members participated in the collection of rubbish from Sutton village and surrounding areas under the direction of Marchien van Oostende and Arnold Dekker.
Murrumbateman Field Days
As in previous years we participated with other landcare groups in a display of our activities in the YAN tent at the field days. Our thanks go to Alan McNeill who once again organized the Sutton activities display.
Concluding remarks
Sutton Landcare has continued to flourish in a difficult operating environment for landcare groups in New South Wales. Our list of interested persons continues to expand. We remain in a strong financial position with the capacity to pursue a range of activities in the future. We are particularly fortunate to continue to enjoy access to Sutton School with it excellent facilities to hold our evening meetings. Our thanks go to the school authorities for their continued support.
We are surrounded by committed environmental scientists who invariably are willing to come and educate us on a range of interesting subjects. We have benefitted enormously from our association with the management team of the Greater Goorooyarroo Project and look forward to that cooperation continuing in the future. I look forward to another Sutton Landcare evening walk in the Mulligans Flat nature sanctuary to search for, not only Bettongs, but also Eastern Quolls and Bush Stone Curlews. And even better, if we can get on top of the fox problem, to hosting all these native animals on our own properties.
Our future is what we choose to make of it. We need to continue to provide an agenda which will attract new members and encourage existing members to step up into executive positions to provide leadership in the future.
I would like to thank all office bearers and members for their contribution and support in achieving another productive and enjoyable year for our group.
David Vincent (President)