Landcare NSW comes of age

September 21, 2009
By: Carolyn Bridge, “Glendenning” Quirindi

Landcare NSW, the state representative body for grassroots Landcare networks which had its beginnings in Tamworth just two years ago, came of age in Port Macquarie last week with a very impressive reporting of its recent achievements.

The NSW Landcare Muster was held at the Glasshouse, Port Macquarie September 9, as a forerunner to the two-day 2009 Landcare Catchment Management Forum and NSW Landcare Awards.

As local farmers and individual landcarers, my husband, Lindsay and I were privileged to attend the events as part of a team of representatives from Liverpool Plains Land Management.

As someone who spent almost two years rolling out a community capacity building project, focussing on regenerating and creating local Landcare groups and networks, it was great to catch up with colleagues and acquaintances.

More importantly, it was amazing to see the difference in attitude of the Landcare Muster delegates and to notice the overwhelmingly positive and united approach to the challenges facing the Natural Resource Management sector and grass roots Landcarers in particular.

In Tamworth October 2007, there was a real push for change and an overwhelming discontent with the status quo in the management and funding of Landcare in NSW but reaching consensus on forming Landcare NSW at the time was not easy.

The 2008 Landcare Muster held in Queanbeyan saw ratification of the Landcare NSW, its structure, aims and objectives. That gathering also saw a lot of sharing of ideas and discussions on opportunities for growth.

So I guess the Tamworth and Queanbeyan Landcare Musters were the “Forming and Storming” stages of the fledgling Landcare NSW. But the event in Port Macquarie last week was much more than the “Norming” stage of a reasonably new organisation.

Landcare NSW Chairman David Walker and Executive Officer Marion Benjamin reported on major progress in the development of good working relationships with the relative government ministers, departments and semi-government agencies and the strengthening of representation from Landcare networks.

Some of the previous doom and gloom about the future of Landcare funding dissipated with the announcement of recent federal government decision of the provision of direct grants to Landcare groups.

The Federal Agriculture Minister, Tony Bourke has also ratified the 13 Regional Landcare Facilitator positions for NSW.

I am not sure if we ever will see a repeat of the “Decade of Landcare” (the nineties) but the pendulum has swung and the powers that be look like they are recognising the efforts of the grass roots networks.

As a welfare worker, I see the need for Landcare not just for environmental reasons but for the positive social effects it has on both rural and urban dwellers.

In this regard, Liverpool Plains Land Management led the way in delivering a federally-funded community capacity building project. The current project officer Rachel Hill is putting the finishing touches on that two-year project. Clearly the project has been a success with 60 community groups in the Liverpool Plains, Gunnedah and Tamworth local government areas, and with Landcare growing again locally.

The project has been the envy of other Landcare networks but in Port Macquarie there was news of so many other amazing projects which had both a social and environmental focus.

I came away from Port Macquarie happy that Landcare in NSW is in safe hands and that the future is a lot brighter.

Thank you again to the team from Liverpool Plains Land Management for facilitating the wonderful experience in Port Macquarie. 

LPLM 6741 8375
www.lplmc.com.au
A healthy catchment for a productive future