Muckleford Landcare has lodged an application for a Community Landcare Grant to fund the first project to emerge from our Chinaman Creek Community Plan. The grants are part of the federal government Caring for Our Country scheme.

The funding would assist nine adjoining landowners in the lower section of the valley to undertake urgent weed control and revegetation work, investigate and plan a soil sustainability strategy and initiate a Waterwatch program. If the application is successful, work will take place in the latter part of this year and in 2014.

This project is the result of several meetings of landholders that grew out of the development of the Chinaman Creek Community Plan. Meetings have also discussed other potential projects in the creek catchment and these will be the subject of further community meetings in the near future.

Muckleford Catchment Landcare would like to thank the residents who contributed to the development of the plan and who attended the meetings.

We will now have wait until August to see if we have been successful.

Copies of our application can be requested from paul.hampton46@gmail.com

As the new year gets underway, so does the calendar of local events for those of us interested in caring for the country we share. We are fortunate in Mount Alexander Shire to have a number of organisations that schedule a wide number and range of educational events pertinent to landcare, farming and conservation. You may wish to put some of the following dates in your diary.

Sunday 10 February

Dja Dja Wurrung ‘Welcome to Country’ & Local Reptiles – From the Backyard to the Bush 

 

Sunday 17 February & Sunday 24 February

Forest Soils Workshop: The Science, Management & History of our Local Soils.

 

Friday 1 March

Nature Discovery Afternoon for Kids

 

Wednesday 13 March

Environmental Weeds: Threatening Biodiversity from Maldon to Marrakesh

 

Wednesday 10 April

Designing a Wildlife Corridor: What Works & Why?

 

Sunday 28 April

Connecting Country Bus Tour: What Does Successful Landscape Restoration Look Like?

 

These events often book out quickly so we advise you to book early.

Full details of the program and booking instructions can be viewed at:

http://connectingcountry.org.au/education-program-2013/

The Chinaman Creek Draft Plan has been available for comment for several weeks and some valuable feedback has been received.  Now it is time to commence the implementation phase.

We will meet this coming Saturday, January 19 for an afternoon tea and discussion. By the end of the meeting we hope to have an initial project idea to work on.

Anyone interested in the Chinaman Creek valley and its environmental future is welcome to participate.

The meeting will be hosted by Mark and Kerry Perry at their property at 69 Creasy’s Road. The entrance is on the north side of the road, approximately halfway between the Castlemaine-Muckleford Road and Woodbrook Road. Our banner will be displayed at the gate so it will be easy to spot.

When:

Saturday, January 19, 2.30-4.00pm.

Bring a chair to sit on and a contribution to afternoon tea if you wish.  We look forward to seeing you.

Time for Your Input

The latest draft of the Chinaman Creek Landcare Plan was released at a pleasant pre-Christmas afternoon tea on December 5. Printed copies of the plan were distributed to those who attended and digital copies are now available on-line  for those who could not make it (simply click on the following link to download a copy)  Chinaman Creek Valley Community Plan _ DRAFT_V.01

We now need to hear what you think. 

The plan is still in draft form. It has lots of information about the valley – its history, vegetation, the current state of farming and environmental health and initial project ideas from those who responded to our survey. We now need to decide how to implement the plan. First we need to refine and elaborate the detail in the plan:

• Do you have perspectives and views that are not currently articulated in the plan?
• Do you have any particular project ideas that can be added to the plan?
• How do you see the plan being implemented?

The current draft plan is just the starting point. We would like to use it as a base to support the creation of tangible, funded projects in 2013.

If you have comments or suggestions please email these to us by January 12 at mucklefordlandcare@gmail.com

On January 19, we will hold another get together to develop specific project plans and initiate appropriate funding. We will send further details about the time and place soon. Please put the date in your diary. 

Let’s make 2013 the year for the Chinaman Creek valley renewal!

 

All members and friends are cordially invited to join Muckleford Catchment Landcare for a pleasant afternoon tea on Chinaman Creek on Saturday December 15.

This is our final event for 2012 and it will mark the release of a draft of the Chinaman Creek Landcare Plan.

Several months ago Muckleford Landcare surveyed land holders in the Chinaman Creek valley in order to find out what sort of long-term vision they had for this important and attractive tributary of the Muckleford Creek.

With the assistance of Connecting Country and Landcare Facilitator Max Schlachter, the results have been compiled into a draft of a landcare plan for the valley. The plan will become an important reference point and support for environmental work into the future. We also hope that the plan will provide us with a template for similar landcare documents for other parts of the catchment.

Copies of the draft plan will be available for collection and further comment.

We will also announce our application for funding for the first project to take place under the auspices of the plan and other ideas for 2013.

We particularly encourage those who contributed to the plan to join us for this pleasant and informative social occasion so that you can obtain a copy of the draft and help us to progress the document to another level.

Members of Muckleford Landcare will also receive complimentary copies of the newly- released Weeds Identification Guide for North Central Victoria booklet and the splendid locally-produced Central Victorian Grasses identification CD……lots of good reasons to join us!

Where: 149 Creasys Road, Wood brook (between Turners Lane and Woodbrook Road). Look for our roadside banner, park on the roadside and walk the short distance (50 metres) to the creek.  Enter from the open gate to the left of the house.

When: Saturday, December 15, 2-3.30 pm.

What to bring: A folding chair to sit on, sun protection and sock protectors!

 

A warm, sunny day, lots of activities and a large crowd combined to create a carnival atmosphere at Mucklefest 2012, held at the Muckleford Railway Station on Sunday 28 October.  

Muckleford Catchment Landcare was on hand to meet with community members, explain our focus and highlight some of our recent projects, and to gain feedback on future activities.  A detailed map of our project activities within the catchment region proved to be a great talking point.

In addition to information about our Landcare group, we were able to provide copies of the FOBIF guide to native wildflowers and the NCCMA weeds identification guide for Central Victoria.

A regular stream of people stopped by our booth during the day to meet our representatives, to gather information, to discuss specific landcare and environmental issues, and to exchange ideas.  A number also became members on the day.

All in all, Mucklefest 2012 proved to be a great success.

This Sunday, October 28, Muckleford Landcare will have a stand at Mucklefest.

Mucklefest is a country fair held annually at the Muckleford Railway Station. There are lots of activities, competitions and food stalls throughout the day. It’s quite a big event these days.

We will be there hoping to make contact with potential new members and others who might be interested in landcare.  Consider paying us a visit – or even better sitting at our table and meeting people for a short period of time.

We would certainly like to catch up with members and friends and there will be lots of other activities to entertain you – and the kids too.

http://www.vgr.com.au/picnic_muckleford.html

Following the success of the presentation by Don Watson at this year’s AGM, Muckleford Landcare is busy working up an exciting program of projects and events for the year ahead.

To ensure that you stay in touch with the range of activities we encourage you to become (or renew) your membership of the group.  The cost is just $25 per household (or $15 concession).

A membership form for 2012/13 is attached for your information.

Membership Form 2012

Following the talk from Don Watson, the Annual General Meeting was held.

Muckleford Landcare wishes to welcome several new members. We are developing plans and activities to keep all our members engaged and active for the next 12 months.

We particularly wish to welcome Ross Luscombe to the committee. Committee meetings are held monthly and anyone is welcome to attend. The next is due to be held on Monday October 22, 12 pm at the The Hub in Barker Street.

The committee for 2012-13 is:

Paul Hampton – President
Sue Slaytor – Secretary
Barry Sutton – Treasurer
David Griffiths
Frank Forster
Ross Luscombe

Muckleford Landcare particularly wishes to express its thanks to David Griffiths for his leadership over the past few years. David remains on the committee where his expertise and passion for the cause are greatly appreciated.

On Wednesday 10 October, more than 50 people attended the Castlemaine Golf Club to hear well-known writer Don Watson talk about his upcoming book, The Book of the Bush.

Don grew up on a dairy farm in South Gippsland that is still farmed by his brother. Don has spent several months travelling the country talking to ‘bush’ people and observing political and social life outside the cities. In a wide-ranging and allusive chat Don made several thought-provoking points. He believes that  having made their ‘clearings’ in the bush, Australians are unusually aware of what has been lost and that after 10 years of denial, they are also deeply conscious of the violent ‘theft’ that enabled their settlement. He claims that it is this inescapable consciousness that explains the ‘melancholy’ that permeates much bush life. He also described vividly the anger that is also an important motif of rural life.

He argues that the real bush folk weren’t the squatters, who came and went quickly, but the selectors who followed. Their struggles to survive on what were often inadequate blocks are a legacy that still permeates farming life and culture today.

For the audience the talk was a fascinating glimpse into the making of a book with all its rich byways and complications. A feature of all Don’s work is the refusal to simplify politics or moralise too easily, and given his ongoing battle to preserve simple public language his own ways of describing the world are refreshingly direct, colloquial and witty. We suspect that the local sales of the book will be very good indeed.

We are also hoping to feature more fascinating speakers at events throughout the year.