Hi Landcarers

Central West Lachlan Landcare hosted the Central West Natural Resource Management Group for two days this week.

It was a pleasure to welcome guests from across the Central West region to our area for the quarterly meeting, with people travelling from across the region to contribute.

The NRM Working Group work as a forum to bring together Landcare, environment and producer groups in the Central West to network and develop project ideas and to inform, advise and consult.

The group is supported by a Regional Landcare Facilitator, who is employed by Central West Local Land Services (CWLLS). This role also supports Landcare Co-ordinators over the region.

The Working Group undertook a Memorandum of Understanding with the CWLLS finalised in December 2016, which provides an outline of framework for the two groups to work together co-operatively, but appreciates the independence that the NRM Working Group have.

The Group had a chance to reflect on two major projects that have been undertaken over the past 18 months and plan for future projects.

The first project is the Local Landcare Coordinators Initiative (LLCI) project that employs seven part-time Landcare Co-ordinators over the region. This funding was applied for towards the end of 2015 in partnership with local Landcare host groups and commenced in early 2016.

The LLCI project is overseen by Landcare NSW, Local Land Services and funded by the State Government, running through until June 2019.

The CWNRM Working Group oversee the Re-balancing A Vegetative Landscape Project that has been outlaid throughout our Landcare groups over the past 12 months and has seen some significant outcomes over the region as well as our local area. It sounds like a bit of a mouthful, but the intention of the project is to undertake training, testing, workshops etc that will improve land management and provides support to undertake that work.

Central West Lachlan Landcare (CWLL) oversee this project which is funded by the National Landcare Programme (NLP) through the Central West Local Land Services. 11 regional groups have overseen projects in their local areas, with over 145,000 hectares being recognised as having improved land management as a result, involving 124 properties. This includes participation from 11 landholders in the Parkes and Forbes Shires covering over 7,000ha.

The NLP funding supports environmental protection and sustainable agricultural practices, delivers nationally important outcomes that assist Australia to meet its national and international obligations, support local stakeholders in delivery of regional NRM activities, builds local community and industry engagement, skills and capacity in NRM and sustainable agriculture and supports Indigenous participation in delivering NRM outcomes.

The project also has a focus on information distribution, grants, training, indigenous involvement in activities. The program provided funding to train over 800 people, involved over 6,000 people in awareness raising activities, produced a myriad of newsletters, media articles and social media to educate our communities about what can be done to improve soil health and better manage our landscape for future generations.

I will be continuing to oversee this regional project for Central West Lachlan Landcare over the next 12 months as well as outlaying our own program, if you are interested in being involved, please contact me at the CWLL office.

Beyond June 2018 the Federal Government will be funding more than $1 billion, over five years to the NLP and so planning has begun to pursue future projects for the region that bring benefits to our local area.

For more information about anything in this article, please contact Central West Lachlan Landcare on 02 6862 4914, cwllpo@hotmail.com, facebook or our website at centralwestlachlanlandcare.org

Until next week, happy Landcaring!