Hi My name is Kathy Tenison and I’m the Local Landcare Coordinator for the Bidgee Irrigation area.
I have just completed two soil workshops in Grong Grong and Coleambally. Both of these workshops were conducted by David Hardwick who is an Agroecologist.
This means he combines local and scientific knowledge and applies ecological and social approaches to agricultural systems, focusing on the interactions between plants, animals, humans, and the environment. What a mouth full but this is what it is all about.
Really the aim of this game is to have productive Agricultural land which provides a healthy landscape for us humans while protecting what is naturally occurring around us. If this all comes together, we can live happily for many years to come and so can our kids.
Another project we are conducting is a National Landcare project which investigates soil health and dry climate feed production in grazing systems with alley farming out at Boree Creek.
On the school front we’re involved in a school project with Petaurus education Group for small schools where we are holding a Gala Day on Sustainability, studying macroinvertebrates, looking at renewable energy sources and carrying out a Junior Landcare task.
Other projects we are part of include the Yanco Creek and Tributaries Advisory Council (YACTAC) where we are working with ‘Sustainable Farms’ on planting up a farm dam to improve water quality and habitat for flora and fauna. In the Yanco Creek catchment, farm dams have recently been shown to be key refuge habitats for threatened species including the Southern Bell Frog and the critically endangered Flathead Galaxias. Trees and shrubs will be planted near the farm dam to connect woodland vegetation corridors with other key environments in the landscape.
Narrandera Landcare Group and Murrumbidgee Field Naturalists held a very successful Educational Wildflower Walk just prior to spring where community members learnt to identify native wildflowers and how important they are in the landscape. A local Grong Grong farmer has already closed off a small area of the farm from grazing to establish native grasses and wildflowers to improve biodiversity of their area. Throughout the local area we hope to assist farmers in protecting existing Pine communities and understorey; supplement planting of understorey and grasses and promote native shrub layers.
All of these projects are of huge importance to complement agricultural production in the Bidgee Irrigation area which covers areas around Narrandera, Grong Grong, Boree Creek, Coleambally, Griffith, Leeton and Darlington Point.
Any farmers who are looking to protect any native habitat on their farm or to plant their own special piece of paradise are very welcome to call me and have a chat about potential projects. Of course, it great to have a big group of people that are like minded to have a large impact on the environment but small groups or just one person can make a big difference.
You can contact me Kathy Tenison on
[email protected]
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