LANDCARE Welcome to the winter edition of the ‘Illawarra Flametree’. NEWSLETTER WINTER ISSUE 2014 This winter there has been loads of activity in the Illawarra! In this issue we will share with you a snap shot of some exciting • Local events and workshops local projects which have taken place, • Local news and projects and also some information about up and • Meet the Volunteers coming events which may be of interest • Wildlife Watch to you including a youth photography • Weed Watch competition and some fantastic wetland, • Along the Bush Tucker Trail fauna, and bush regeneration workshops. • Edible Illawarra • Illawarra Woodland & Rainforest Project Brendon Levot from Wildside is • Local projects - get involved our guest writer for our ‘Wildlife Watch’ • Funding opportunities feature, and here we hear about some Illawarra Local Land Services Officer great work he is doing to combat mange For more information about Landcare Illawarra or to in wombats. submit information for the next Landcare Illawarra newsletter, contact Megan Rowlatt: We introduce you to dedicated and p: 02 4229 7526 passionate volunteer of Helensburgh and m: 0412 532 817 District Landcare group, Merilyn House, e: [email protected] and also hear about one of our Illawarra Woodland and Rainforest project sites which is experiencing some fantastic results due to the great team of dedicated individuals working on the land.

We hope you enjoy the Winter 2014 issue of the Landcare Illawarra ’Illawarra Flametree’ Newsletter.

From the Landcare Illawarra Team. Megan Rowlatt

Background Image: Brad Chilby LOCAL EVENTS & South Coast Wetland Carers Network The South Coast Wetland Carers Network will be WORKSHOPS hosting a number of interesting workshops up and down the south coast in the coming months some of Saturday 27th September – Fauna and Wetlands. these include: Huskisson Community Centre, Dent St, Huskisson, Lunch Provided. Sunday the 31st August – Bird Monitoring at Bellambi Shoalhaven City Council and South 8 am - 10.30 am, Bott Drive, Bellambi, Morning Tea at Coast Wetland Carers Network have conclusion. invited Brendon Levot to share his South Coast Wetland Carers are teaming up with the knowledge and experience in bush Illawarra Birders to participate in their Shorebird restoration projects. 2020 Survey. Bellambi Lagoon and Dunes are areas of Brendon has been working within the significant habitat and restoration for the birds of the ecological restoration industry for Illawarra. We will be led through the dunes and along the past 14 years as a volunteer and the foreshore, spotting and recording the numerous paid contractor. birds present in the area. During this time he has managed a wide range of diverse landscapes in varying degrees of Wednesday 18th September – Fish and Wetlands, A degradation whilst always maintaining the key principal sustainable approach that it is necessary to restore bushland for native 6.30 pm - 8 pm, CVA , 5/54 Montague St, wildlife and habitat. Fairy Meadow, Light Supper supplied. Workshop will include information about: Scott Nichols from Fisheries NSW will be presenting on How to identify ecological trends all things fish and habitat, including the impacts of What are the limitations of wildlife within an urban urbanisation, the most popular recreational fish species environment and the importance of connectivity in our waterways, Wildlife and habitat interactions with some case studies of wetland projects. This will be Habitat requirements and niche environments followed by a presentation by the Fish Thinkers group, Weeds as habitat PhD students from the , Flora and fauna monitoring who will discuss some of their current research on Incorporating fauna considerations into management recreational fish species. A great way to learn about plans our wetlands’ impacts on fishing and how to be a more RSVP: Please RSVP to Adam Woods by the 17th of responsible fisherperson. September at [email protected]. au or phone 02 4228 9246

Header Image: LOCAL EVENTS & Youth in Nature Photo Competition natural areas. When: Thursday October 23rd from 6 pm Join in with Illawarra Youth Landcare in capturing the Where: Dapto Ribbonwood Centre, Princes HWY, Dapto WORKSHOPS beauty of nature and young people out there enjoying RSVP: to Megan Rowlatt on 02 4229 7526 or it! For the month of August, Illawarra Youth Landcare [email protected] is encouraging the wider community to submit photos via social media using hashtag #IYLandcare on their Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts. The winner Private Landholder Bush Regeneration will be announced during Landcare Week in September. Training This is a great opportunity if you are: • New to land management • Feeling overwhelmed with the scale of work you might be facing • Unsure about where to start • Unsure of where to go for support • Would like to see what other locals are doing • Interested in native vegetation management • Interested in learning more about bush regeneration • Interested in hearing about Voluntary Conservation Agreements first hand

Morning tea will be provided, BYO lunch. Visit the Illawarra Youth Landcare website for more When: September 26, 9 am - 3 pm information Where: Stockyard Mountain, address supplied upon www.illawarrayouthlandcare.com.au/event/youth_ registration in_nature_photography_competition What to bring: Wear long pants, long sleeves, hat, sunscreen, sunglasses, closed in sturdy shoes, plenty of Talking Landcare water, gardening gloves. Tools will be provided. Landcare Illawarra will be running another interesting RSVP: to Megan Rowlatt on 02 4229 7526 or Talking Landcare this October at the Dapto Ribbonwood [email protected] Centre. We will be inviting local experts to come and talk about urban biodiversity and how the community can introduce appropriate native species and move All workshops promoted here are free of charge away from exotics to reduce the risk of garden escapees unless otherwise stated which can cause incredible amounts of damage to our

Header Image: Megan Rowlatt LOCAL NEWS & International Helping Hands Renae Riviere - Regional Manager CVA In the second half of 2014, Conservation Volunteers PROJECTS Australia (CVA) is partnering with the University of I like nature so it was good. I want to do it again and I got Wollongong College to get some international students really good pictures! (Ryuya Mikami, 2014) out and about in nature and to give them some hands It was hard but we felt closer to each other thanks to this on experience on local environmental projects. volunteer activity(Nene Okawa, 2014) Each group of students will visit UOW College for We did tree planting before we attended afternoon class. between 2-16 weeks to partake in a Study Tour The day was a little warm and I sweated good sweat! program. The programs specialise in English language (Asako Kobayahi, 2014) and provide opportunities for intercultural exchange, It was a good opportunity for me. I’m interested in the English proficiency and a wide range of fun activities environment – I want to participate in this volunteer again. such as sightseeing, surfing, bushwalking and visiting (Satomi Kiriu, 2014) local wildlife parks. I have never done such an experience – it was the first time Throughout their time here they’ll be staying with local for me to plant trees. It’s not bad! ( Jo-ji Takeda, 2014) families and will volunteer 15 hours of their time to the I planted an Australian plant. There were many bugs but it community. UOW College hopes that by connecting was easier than I thought. them to their local community the students will be Over the next few months we’ll be heading out to provided with a richer, more rewarding travel and study Kiama, Primbee, Minnamurra, Woonona and the Royal experience. National Park; if you would like to come along and get So, between July and November CVA will be taking involved on these, or any other CVA projects, please call over 50 students from all around Japan out to join local the Wollongong CVA office on 02 4228 9246 to find out CVA and Landcare volunteers on a number of sites in how. the region. They will get a chance to brush up on their English skills while spending a few hours lending a hand and learning about the challenges facing groups working at each site and afterwards we’ll take the students for a spot of local sightseeing. This program is a fantastic opportunity to showcase to an international audience not only the great work that CVA and Landcare volunteers do in our region, but also our beautiful natural areas and to promote tourism opportunities in the region too. So far, the students have really enjoyed their time volunteering with us; J F Oberlin University students assisting CVA’s South Coast Wetland Carers Network with some planting at Bellambi Lagoon

Header Image: Megan Rowlatt LOCAL NEWS & Corporate Care - Veolia Donation to support has assisted them to better promote the great work they are doing and allowed them to undertake it PROJECTS Landcare in a safer way.” - From the Veolia teams at Gerringong In 2013, Veolia Water donated $4000 to Landcare Gerroa Sewerage Scheme and the Illawarra Water Illawarra to support local Landcare groups in the Treatment Plant. Illawarra region. Funding for Landcare Illawarra to better resource local groups is often highly competitive and scarcely available as most funding requires on- ground outcomes to be achieved. This makes it difficult to purchase simple things such as tools and signage which help volunteer groups exist and carry out their regular activities and promote the good work they do. This funding allowed Landcare Illawarra to resource the groups to better promote themselves to the wider community to raise awareness about when they were working on-site, raise the profile of Landcare activity in the Illawarra region, and attract new volunteers. Landcare Illawarra was also able to focus on improving the safety and record keeping resources each volunteer group has. What we purchased with the Veolia funding: 50 corflute signs for existing and any new groups which form so they can display information at each Landcare day 20 first aid kits which will go out to all current Landcare groups 200 Hours record keeping books for all Landcare groups. These are used to record what each project day achieves, how many hours each volunteer contributes to Landcare and any incidents and interesting observations the groups would like to record.

“Veolia is very proud to support Landcare Illawarra. Their hands on, on the ground activities make a real

difference in our local community. We hope our Images: New signage and first aid kits for volunteer groups

Header Image: Megan Rowlatt MEET THE VOLUNTEERS Volunteer Profile Helensburgh. Our volunteers are the driving force of Every time I drive into Helensburgh I can Landcare and often go unrecognised in see the results of our efforts. the community for their hard work. They work tirelessly and contribute many hours What keeps you coming back? Three to their local patch of native bushland. So things keep me coming back. First, we want to introduce them to you, and although it always seems like two steps hear more about what makes them tick... forward and one or more steps back, I remember what an area looked like before Meet: Merilyn House we started and can see progress. Second, I remind myself that if I do nothing I am just Groups: Helensburgh & District like the people I am always complaining Landcare Group (In the early days, about! And last, but not least, it’s the i.e. 1990s, I was also a volunteer in support and encouragement of people the ) like Mike McKeon and Julie Cherry from Wollongong City Council, Megan from Conservation Volunteers What inspired you to get involved? We moved to Australia, and local Landcare members. Helensburgh in 1973. I had always had a love for our For more information about Helensburgh and District local bushland and was lucky to live across the road Landcare visit www.helensburghlandcare.org.au from a bush area. I gradually became aware that all the greenery was not native and wanted to do something to help the bush. I started the Helensburgh & District Landcare Group in 1993. I found that because I didn’t have any recognised qualifications it was not easy to be taken seriously regarding what I wanted to achieve. This led me to enrol at TAFE and do the Bush Regeneration Certificate, and subsequently to obtain a Statement of Attainment in Environmental Management and an Advanced Certificate in Urban Horticulture.

What has been your favourite project/event to date? In 1999, on behalf of our Landcare Group, I organised to supply the Department of Main Roads with enough local seed to revegetate the area disturbed by the construction of the on/off ramps from the freeway to Image: Allan and Merilyn House dedicated environmental volunteers

Header Image: Gavin Nethery WILDLIFE WATCH Mangey Wombats populations of Common Wombat are becoming extinct due to mange outbreak and it is feared that without Brendon Levot intervention the Common Wombat may join the many other Australian native species on the red list. The Common Wombat is an iconic Australian marsupial Wombats infected by the mite show symptoms of species. It can be easily identified by its adorable looks, hair loss, skin irritation and mutilation. Badly infected a very furry coat, a little bare nose and a backwards wombats may also suffer internal problems such as facing pouch that is specifically designed so it doesn’t organ damage and failure. Vision and hearing can also fill up with soil during their favourite night time activity become impaired as the mite causes the skin to crust apart from eating, digging. They are one of three species on the body and in particular within these areas. Open of wombat within the family Vombatidae, the other wounds develop and leave the wombat susceptible to two being the Northern and Southern Hairy-nosed blow fly strike. The mite has a life cycle of 2 – 3 weeks. Wombat species. All species of Wombat are known to During this time the female mite will burrow within the have hypselondont teeth, meaning that they are ever wombats skin laying eggs. Eggs take 8 days to hatch. The growing. This is a feature unseen in any other Australian mites feed upon blood entering the mite tunnels from marsupial mammals and is believed to be an adaption self-mutilation by the wombats caused by incessant to allow Wombats to gain the most amount of energy scratching. If left untreated a wombat infected with out of a low nutrient diet of native grasses. Sarcoptic mange will succumb to a long and painful The name ‘Common Wombat’ is a misleading statement death. as numbers of Common Wombat have dramatically However, Sarcoptic wombat mange is a treatable decreased throughout the known range since European condition and wombats can be saved from certain settlement. Many are shot as they are considered a death. Treatment options include the control of the mite pastoral pest within , Victoria and within free living wombat populations and the removal South Australia or reduced in numbers through habitat of very sick animals into the hands of a professional fragmentation, road mortality and disease. wildlife carer. Treatment methods The main disease that utilise the application of generic cattle is threatening Wombat pour on flea and tick treatments. This populations is Sarcoptic is administered much in the same Mange. Wombat mange way as frontline to your pet pooch via is a debilitating and lethal either direct or indirect application contagious skin condition to the back of an infected animal’s which affects both Common neck. The indirect application of the and Southern Hairy-nosed treatment utilises a ‘burrow flap’ that Wombat species and is caused is positioned over the entrance to a by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei wombat burrow. Image: Allan and Merilyn House dedicated environmental volunteers var vombatus. Small sub-

Header Image: Gavin Nethery As the wombat enters in and out of the burrow a small affair fuelled the conservation flare in my heart. Many dose is applied. With monitoring the success of the months of research and quite a few visits to wombat treatment can be visualised after a four week dosage hospitals around the country has now led me down round as the infected wombats begin to frolic and grow the track to saving this iconic species. Together, some their fur once again. All treatments applied to control friends, a very supportive family and I have started to mange must be undertaken under the guidance of a make a change within the grassy woodlands of western licensed vet or local wildlife care centre. . In a landmark first I have been able to combine It is easy to spot a wombat that has been infected my knowledge of conservation land management with with mange. Generally they will look scruffy, furless the control and treatment of wombat mange. After all and scabby. Commonly if the wombat is out during what’s the use of bringing a sick animal back to life if it the day it is safe to assume that the wombat has has no habitat to live and thrive within? mange. Wombats are typically nocturnal animals that The little wombat which I first observed with mange is spend most of the day time underground within their a small female named Lucy and recently after treating burrows. If a wombat is spotted during the day time it her in the wild for wombat mange I have noticed the is most likely that the wombat is either dehydrated or tiny patter of pint sized wombat feet following in her malnourished, both scenarios are cause and effect of footsteps imprinted within the soft soil outside of her wombat mange. Please don’t let mange go unnoticed burrow system. You don’t need a degree, a license or as this is a treatable condition that is having disastrous any experience dealing with wombats and mange to impacts upon one of our favourite little native diggers. birth a success story such as mine, just a little patience My name is Brendon Levot. I am a conservation land and determination. manager, wildlife photographer, documentary filmmaker and co-founder of Wildside Australia and Out the back gate productions. My job as a conservation land manager is rehabilitate and enhance our natural areas, my job as a wildlife photographer and documentary filmmaker is to capture the true beauty and essence of Australian native plants and animals in their natural environments so I can spark the same passion I have in everyday people to conserve them. Prior to first observing a wombat suffering with mange I had no experience or knowledge in dealing with such a problem. I just knew that something had to be done. The thought of the poor little wombat spending another day in that state of Images: Previous page - Wombat with Mange. Bottom R - Burrow with flap for treatment. Photos by Brendon Levot

Header Image: Brad Chilby WEED WATCH Mother of Millions burnt; stored in black plastic bags until completely decayed or buried, taking care of dropping plantlets. Bryophyllum delagoense Spraying with an approved registered herbicide can be Origin: Introduced from Africa and Madagascar, Mother effective but follow up and monitoring will be required. of millions was introduced to Australia as a garden Refer to the Noxious and Environmental Weed Control plant. Handbook for a list of recommended chemicals for the This succulent perennial grows up to 1 m high and is treatment of Mother of millions. well adapted to dry conditions and survives well in drought, on gravelly sandy soils and is commonly found along fence lines, roadsides, at rubbish tips as well as along creeks and rivers where flooding has occurred. All parts of the plant are poisonous to humans, livestock and domestic animals if ingested. Identification: Stems are pinkish-grey and leaves are a pencil shaped pale green-brown with patches of dark green. Leaves also have a shallow groove along the upper surface and up to seven projections at the tip of each leaf which, if broken off can and form new plants. Flowers form in a cluster at the top of the stem and droop as orange-red tubes. In NSW, there are also two less common Bryophyllum species. These are hybrid mother of millions (Bryophyllum daigremontianum x Bryophyllum delagoense) and resurrection plant (Bryophyllum pinnatum). Both are also invasive and toxic. Flowering and seeding: Flowers from May to October. Dispersal: Each plant produces small plantlets along the edges of its leaves which detach and form new plants. Mother of millions also produces numerous seeds Images: Top - Flowers of which can survive in the soil for a number of years Bryophyllum delagoense Mid - leaves before germinating. Bottom -Hybrid Control: For small infestations, mother of millions can Photos and information sourced from NSW DPI be removed by pulling up individual plants by hand. website. Once the plants have been removed they should be

Header Image: Michael Feidler ALONG THE BUSH TUCKER TRAIL Cabbage Tree Palm With Terry Rankmore Aboriginal name: Ortharawal (Dharawal) Daranggara (Eora) Sydney Botanical name: Livistona australis Significance: The Cabbage Tree Palm is a totem and sacred tree of the Wadi-Wadi “people of the Illawarra.” Family: ARECACEAE Habit: A medium to tall tree - 25 meters tall Leaves: Palmate in shape - fan shaped Flowers: Numerous small yellow flowers Fruit: Black in colour and globular in shape Habitat: Rainforest, gullies, grows on fertile soils Distribution: Coastal zone Bush Tucker: Terminal bud cooked then eaten. Tastes like cabbage Medicinal Use: The heart of the trunk was soaked over night to soften, it was then cooked and eaten to relieve sore throats Other uses: Fibrous material was used to make string. Leaves were used as umbrellas and thatching material Modern Use: Excellent plant for parks or gardens. Potted plant in semi-shaded area. Needs well composted soil and a frost free area with ample water. Tends to do better in group plantings. Note: The word Tongarra means a place of Cabbage Tree Palms.

Images by Megan Rowlatt

Header Image: Megan Rowlatt EDIBLE ILLAWARRA With Terry Rankmore Thirroul Community Garden

The Thirroul Community Garden is a group of community members working together to establish a community garden using permaculture design principles:

Earth Care – People Care – Fair Share

The group meets every Sunday at the garden which is located in ‘High St Reserve’ on the corner of Lawrence Hargrave Dr and High St in Thirroul. Starting at 9.30 am, a Garden Representative will meet new and current members wanting to work together for a few hours and a schedule of jobs is allocated to participants for the day. The Thirroul Garden is a shared plot design, so everyone can work together.

The site also is part of the Hewitts Creek Bushcare Group, which works on the 1st Sunday of every month. This group meets to carry out weed management along the banks and bed of the creek and introduce appropriate native species back to the site through planting activities. Some of these species include bush food plants too!

If you wish to get involved you can visit the garden up to three times to see how it all works, and then if you wish to participate in regular working bees and take part in garden design, planning and maintenance, you can then become a member of the group for $20 per adult through the Thirroul Neighborhood Centre, who provide insurance.

For more information visit: www.thirroulgardeners.wordpress.com

Or email [email protected]

Images sourced from Thirroul Community Garden Facebook and website

Header Image: Megan Rowlatt LOCAL PROJECTS GET INVOLVED

This issue we would like to introduce two new Landcare Shellharbour groups to the Landcare Illawarra family! Shellharbour City Council supports a number of Collins Creek Landcare Woonona Bushcare, Landcare and Parkcare groups across Collins Creek Landcare is a group of residents working Shellharbour. Some of the active groups include: to improve a section of Collins Creek. Work being Tullimbar Landcare, Albion Park. Meets at Elizabeth carried out will complement works Wollongong City Brownlee Reserve (end of Digby Close), 4th Saturday of Council contractors have been doing further along in the month 9 am - 1 pm. Contact Ruth Jenkins on the catchment. 4256 2684. This group meets on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of every Blackbutt Bushcare, Blackbutt. Meets in Blackbutt month from 9 am - 12 pm Forest, 3rd Sunday of the month 9 am - 12 pm. Contact Contact Michael Jennings to get involved at Tony Hepworth on 4297 6490 for directions to the [email protected] meeting site. Hillside Native Food Forest Landcare Kiama Oakey Creek Bushcare. Meet at Oak Flats on the Hillside Native Food Forest Landcare is located next Boulevard end once a fortnight on Wednesdays 9 am to the Kiama Community Garden next to Blue Haven - 12 pm Retirement home. Here the group is rehabilitating the weedy hillside and creating a native food forest for all For more information and a full list of groups working to enjoy. in the area visit the Shellharbour City Council Website. The group meets on the 4th Saturday of the month from 9 am - 11 am. Contact Megan to get involved on 4229 7526 or Kiama [email protected] Kiama has a number of active groups working on a mixture of public and private land. This includes: Wollongong Bombo Headland Landcare. Meet on the last Saturday of the month from 2-4 pm. Contact Megan for more Illawarra Youth Landcare details on 4229 7526 or Saturday September 6, early start! See website for [email protected] details. IYL will be hosting a Landcare Week celebration inviting You can view a full list of active groups for this area on new volunteers (late teens to early thirties) to join the our website by visiting the ‘local groups’ section of existing team of volunteers for a full day of outdoor www.landcareillawarra.org.au adventure activities, and exploring local Landcare sites. The event will be followed by a dinner in Wollongong. www.illawarrayouthlandcare.com.au What do I bring? Wollongong City Bushcare Wear sturdy closed in shoes, long pants and long-sleeved There are over 50 Bushcare sites throughout Wollongong shirt to avoid insect bites, sun burn and scratches from from Windang and Dapto in the south to Helensburgh vegetation. Wear a hat and sunscreen, bring gloves if in the north. All Bushcare volunteers are working you have some, plenty of drinking water and snacks if with Council to conserve our precious natural areas you need them. of bushland, foreshore, creek lines and escarpment. Bushcare groups usually meet regularly each week There are many more groups to get involved with in or each month, learning new skills and meeting new our region. For more information about all of the active people while helping out the environment. Everyone Landcare groups across the Illawarra visit is welcome to join the Bushcare program - every extra www.landcareillawarra.org.au or contact Local Land hand helps. For information on a group near you, Services Officer - Megan on 4229 7526 contact Bushcare - 4227 8113 or visit the Bushcare [email protected] section of the Wollongong City Council website. ILLAWARRA WOODLAND & RAINFOREST PROJECT The old Corrimal Colliery, one of the many sites... The Illawarra Woodland and Rainforest project is now into its 4th year under the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Future Biodiversity Fund. Under this particular grant, Landcare Illawarra in partnership with Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA), is working with private land managers to carry out environmental restoration works on private land with a focus on Illawarra Lowlands Grassy Woodland and Illawarra Subtropical Rainforest - two Endangered Ecological Communities. Landcare Illawarra assists land managers in the region who have woodland and rainforest vegetation on and learning about bush regeneration as they have their properties. Restoration activities are decided on removed large sections of Lantana and secondary a case by case basis by looking at site issues and the weeds to allow the rainforest to regenerate. In the last best management strategies required to recover these two years they received a boost of assistance from CVA vegetation communities. One of the many sites Landcare Illawarra has been working on includes the ‘Old Corrimal Colliery’ just under Brokers’ Nose in Tarrawanna. This site backs onto the Illawarra Escarpment State Conservation Area, and is highly degraded. The property has experienced a lot of disturbance from over a century of mining and industrial activity and suffers from large infestations of weeds including Lantana, Moth vine, Madeira vine, Wild tobacco and Cape ivy just to name a few. Four and a half years ago, John Reay purchased the property with a vision and a passion to preserve the unique history and rehabilitate the wilderness he fell in love with. John and his partner Jill have tirelessly been working Images: Top R - John standing in Lantana infested area. Bottom R - CVA volunteers working on Lantana and fencing for revegetation. Photos by Megan Rowlatt. Header Image: Megan Rowlatt and Landcare Illawarra to help them on this journey under the Illawarra Woodland and Rainforest Project. Once a month CVA volunteers join John and Jill and carry out a range of weeding, fencing and planting activities, with some occasional seed collection at the site. Deer are present and cause a lot of damage to revegetation areas, so fencing has been an important component of the project. The volunteers have also been transplanting ground covers around the site to suppress further weed growth, and it’s working!

unable to define what a particular weed is, because there are many native look-a-likes, I’ve been able to seek help”. “This is such a monumentally large task, it’s not too difficult to lose the belief that you can achieve it, so getting other peoples’ interest is enormously encouraging”. “It’s been wonderful, I can’t thank them enough” shares Jill.

Some areas of the property have recovered so well you couldn’t even imagine there had been lantana and other invasive weeds there in the first place. “The support has been important on many levels” says For more info on the Illawarra Woodland and Rainforest John “It’s one thing to have a desire to do something, project visit but you need to learn, and the support has been at an www.landcareillawarra.org.au educational and technical level. When I’ve been Images: Top R - native ground covers taking over the forest floor and coal remnants. Mid L - Livistonia australis regenerating post Lantana removal. Bottom R - John and Jill. Photos by Megan Rowlatt

Header Image: Brad Chilby FUNDING

The NSW Environmental Trust invites grant applications OPPORTUNITIES The Trust is now calling for applications to the following $15,000 for successful EOI applicants to develop a grants programs: detailed Business Plan for their project. • Restoration and Rehabilitation Grants The Saving our Species Partnership Grants program is • Saving our Species Partnership Grants a contestable grants program seeking to achieve long- term outcomes for threatened species in NSW. Environmental Restoration and Rehabilitation Grants The objectives of the Saving our Species Partnership Applications are due by September 19 2014 Grants program are to: The aim of the Restoration and Rehabilitation program • contribute to increasing the number of threatened is to facilitate projects run by community organisations species, populations and communities secured in and government entities working to prevent or reduce the wild in NSW through strategic co-investment environmental degradation of any kind. Through • encourage the alignment of efforts to manage these projects, we also aim to improve the capacity of threatened species and communities across NSW communities and organisations to protect, restore and • make decisions about the management of enhance the environment. threatened species and communities based on best Funds available include: available evidence and evaluation of outcomes • $2 million for projects by community organisations working to prevent or reduce environmental To find out more information about these, and other degradation grants programs delivered by the Environmental Trust, • $2 million for projects by government entities please visit the Trust website: working to prevent or reduce environmental www.environmentaltrust.nsw.gov.au degradation • $0.5 million for owners and managers of State Heritage Register-listed places working to prevent If you need any assistance in applying for funding contact or reduce environmental degradation on their your Local Land Services Officer 4229 7526 or heritage properties. Grants of between $5,000 and [email protected] $100,000 are available.

Saving Our Species Partnership Grants Program Expressions of interest are due September 29 2014 Individual grants of between $300,000 and $1,000,000 are available. This includes seed funding of up to

This resource was produced through funding from the Australian Government in partnership with South East Local Land Services and Conservation Volunteers Australia. Header Image: Megan Rowlatt