This week we welcomed Ecologist Alison Elvin to present at a Resilient Landscape Development workshop at Kelly Reserve in Parkes.

Our speaker, Alison Elvin, works with rural communities throughout central and southern NSW. She is an ecologist, educator, farmer, and a director of Wildscapes Rural Pty Ltd.

We were also fortunate to have representation and presentations from Parkes SES and Parkes RFS on preventative and preparative measures for people, animals and properties if a disaster does strike.

In this Volunteer Week, there is a special thanks from me to all of the SES and RFS volunteers who have assisted with workshops in Parkes and Forbes over the past few months, to support our People Led Prevention Project.

Alison spoke about reducing bushfire threats with garden design options including landscaping options, plant selection and mulching, with importance given to your Asset Protection Zone. (or the zone surrounding a build asset or structure).

She spoke about the important difference between fire retardancy and fire resistance. Feeding on from this we discussed plant species that do have a higher water content and might be useful in providing retardancy in a fire including: Pig Face; Lambs Ear, Salt Bush, Emu Bush, Corea, Mint Bush. Some of these plants like Mint Bush and Emu Bush can die off on lower branches and need to be maintained to reduce flamibility.

Alison also shared information on plant selection for riparian zones and planting options to reduce flammability, with the intention of developing disaster resilience. This included a discussion about water access points for stock and the importance of providing clean water for stock, with studies revealing that providing clean stock water can increase profitability by 20%.

We were pleased to be able to provide attendees with free native tubestock and guards. This is the perfect time of year to start planting.

Landcare NSW’s People Led Prevention project empowers communities across regional NSW in developing disaster resilience and preparedness skills. The Disaster Risk Reduction Fund is jointly funded by the Australian and NSW Governments.

The People Led Prevention project focuses on behaviour change for natural hazard risk reduction. We are so thrilled to be able to consolidate our emergency service providers into one space to provide information to the community, planning options and increase disaster resilience and community connectivity.

For further information on this article, please go to www.centralwestlachlanlandcare.org, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram @cwllandcare