It was fantastic to have such a great turn-out for our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday evening.

We are thrilled to have our new Committee in place representing our local area. Our group have diverse backgrounds but all with a common commitment to work together to improve the health and sustainability of the environment that we live in. I will have more information about our new members in the weeks ahead.

Central West Lachlan Landcare were very humbled to be the recipient of a vehicle and provision of funds to cover running costs as part of a three-year commitment from Parkes and Forbes Shire Councils to support the ongoing work of Central West Lachlan Landcare over the two Council areas. A separate article detailing this unique and innovative partnership is soon to be published.

To finish off our AGM, we were fortunate to have a presentation from Agronomist, Guy Webb on the Soil C Quest Project. Guy spoke about the need for further research into bio-technology capable of large scale carbon sequestration. Sequestration!! What?

The Soil C Quest team have been working on a newly discovered biotechnology that has the potential, when it is further developed, to be a reliable and economical way to increase soil carbon in agricultural soils, all with the help of fungi that assists the deposited soil carbon to be stored within soil aggregates.

We are fortunate to have part of this team working away in our area, giving their own time to commit to a project that has the potential to significantly change the way that organic carbon is retained in soils and, in turn, how it impacts soil health and crop production.

This sounds great for agriculture, but this is only a small part of a bigger picture that may also significantly impact climate change reducing the amount of atmospheric carbon. Have I got your attention yet?

Regardless of your views on climate change, you have to admit that the whole concept is something that is worth finding out more about, so we were fortunate to have the presentation from Guy which provided more detail about the project that has the support of Major General The Honourable Michael Jeffery and was listed number 41 in the 100 Projects for the Climate.

CWLL are looking forward to the impending launch of the crowd funding campaign and we will keep you informed of the launch and how you can be involved.

I think that we just have room to mention the next National Parks Association Walk that will be on the Bumberry Ridge Trail at Goobang National Park on Sunday, 6 November. Walkers are to meet at Lions Park at 9am for this medium, 5 kilometre walk. If you are intending to join the group, contact walk leader, Bob Bokeyar on 02 6862 5753 the evening before the walk.

Walkers are reminded to bring along enough food and water for the entire day as well as suitable clothing, footwear, hat and sunscreen. A pair of good binoculars and a fold up chair is recommended. Please contact the listed walk leader the night before the walk if you intend to come. A $2.00 donation for each walker is appreciated.

A big thank you to Graeme and Liz McRaild for supporting our Skillset Green Army team with their flora and fauna identification during the walk on Wednesday to Coonimbla National Park.

As usual, links to items in this article are available on facebook or on our website at http://www.centralwestlachlanlandcare.org

Until next week, happy Landcaring!