Nest Boxes: We might do this?

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You might remember the Sugar Glider nest boxes we installed up in the Lurg Hills a few years back. You might be interested in nest boxes as a way to encourage more abundance and diversity of our local fauna on your property. Or you might be a secret woodworking enthusiast looking for a way to make your hobby have some environmental impact!

Either way, nest boxes and the art of nest-boxing is a highly skilled, species-specific sport. You need to have deep insight into the predator, feeding, breeding and physical attributes of your chosen beneficiary - not to mention a keen appreciation of the solar arc travel during the day and over the course of the seasons.
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How to read a weather map - topical subject, these days!


One of the best parts of being the blog editor is getting to choose what goes up on the page! The BOM has an excellent blog and I have referenced them before. As a key authoritative source of information about weather at its broadest context. Here's more proof.

Reading weather maps (and the sky) is a key skill for many pastimes and professions - farmers probably learn it at their parent's knee, while the rest of us other have to rely on more intermittent opportunities for the acquisition of that skill.

Check out the BOM entry here and maybe even subscribe (although we are happy to have you rely on us as your landcare info concierge!)

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Major Events (Bushfire) Review



Photo credit above: Masha Prokudina/Parks Victoria

We are paraphrasing from another blog, but the recent extreme weather event really underscored the impact on our wildlife through the destruction of their habitat. As an example, Gippsland has been very hard hit, first the bushfires, and now some worse-than-average wet'n'wild weather. Read More…
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Parks Victoria - How to WWCC in a page



Someone very talented at Parks Victoria has kindly put together a one page infographic on how to apply for a Working with Children Check. It's in the detailed section, below.

So, you have until June 30 to get one in order to be able to continue to work on PV projects as a volunteer. Hop to it. And make sure you register the WWCC document number on Park Connect!
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Parks Victoria - Working with Children Checks are now mandatory for all volunteers



Parks Victoria have just released a detailed statement of their position in relation to the management of children and minors in projects and activities auspiced by Parks Victoria, as it relates to the current Child Safe Standards.

In line with many other organisations, Parks Victoria has decided the only effective way to ensure compliance is to mandate that all volunteers who will be engaged in activities auspiced by Parks Victoria, will be required to be in possession of a current Working With Children Check document - which is free to obtain for voluntary work. But you must obtain one by 30 June 2021 to be able to continue to volunteer in the second half of 2021.
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Have your say on Victorian public land legislation!


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The Victorian government is consulting on proposals to renew Victoria’s public land legislation, including the creation of a new Public Land Act.

Much of Victoria’s current public land legislation is outdated and does not reflect contemporary views and values of public land. It is also complex and does not adequately support efficient and effective public land management. A new Public Land Act will assist in overcoming the barriers and issues posed by the current legislative framework.

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Bank Australia: The Red-tailed Cockatoo link



Bank Australia is reducing the environmental cost of its operations by investing in the environment itself. Through a partnership with Trust for Nature and Greening Australia, the bank is rehabilitating areas of rural farm land that are also part of the habitat of the Red-tailed Cockatoo.
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Environmental Volunteering: Latest report via DELWP shows high latent demand


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To support offering environmental volunteering opportunities that appeal to Victoria's diverse community, DELWP undertook a small but important piece of social research on engaging more Victorians in environmental volunteering. The project was conducted in partnership with Newgate Research.

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The BOM blogs and it is interesting!


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You probably refer to the weather app on your phone multiple times per day and if you don't, you no doubt check the weather on the daily news to see what's coming. Vast amounts of the weather information in Australia comes from the infrastructure owned and operated by the Australian Government's Bureau Of Meteorology (BOM).

With vast resources in both intellectual and computing power, some of their experts generously contribute to educating the rest of us on the dark ways of the weather (aka Mother Nature).
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The VMLCG AGM is on January 31 11 AM in Geelong!




Well, 2020 is behind us now and we all hope that the past lessons have been learnt and that we will not go back to some of the hard times we had in that year.

We will all have to live with the new Covid normal conditions and still look after each other even more as time moves on. Vaccinations all sound good and we all hope they will solve our problems but only time will tell on that.


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VMLCG Code of Conduct Adopted


The BOM was made aware by Landcare Victoria Inc. that a pre-requisite of our membership (and therefore insurance) was the requirement to have an endorsed and operational Code of Conduct governing our interactions with each other. We have adopted the LVI version as a model set of policies since it covers all aspects, was developed with some considerable thought and consultation and is a pragmatic way for a small group like ours to get our governance in good shape.

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Newsletter #5: Christmas is upon us!

Greetings one and all! It might be a tad early, but Merry Christmas to all our members and please catch up on the plans for early 2021 as we all get back to something resembling normality for our group.


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Latest Landcare Victoria Newsletter Available


From the CEO

I’m pleased to provide Landcare Victoria’s November newsletter.
 
The Government plan to allow camping on licensed water frontages has been a significant point of concern for many in the Landcare community in the last few weeks.  We reported on the issue in the October newsletter and provide an update in this issue.
 
The Landcare community is expressing widespread concern about the imminent end of the current round of funding for the Landcare Facilitator Program.  Landcare Victoria is in regular contact with DELWP about the issue.  See the report in this newsletter. 
 
The very good news about the decline in the number of Victorian COVID19 cases and associated easing of restrictions means that volunteer group activities can re-commence with appropriate care. 

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Netting Fruit Trees badly could cost you $2500 in 2021




Many of us no doubt love our figs, apples, berries and all manner of the produce we nurture and covet from our gardens and our labours. So too does the wildlife that share our properties. Protecting your produce from their attention is perfectly valid of course - but let's do it in a way that minimises harm to them. New regulations come into force soon regarding netting. Read More…
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Fire Survey Feb 2020 - aerial overfly by Parks Victoria


This post is not new news. We thought it would be pertinent for our members though as we contemplate getting back into projects in the High Country and to prepare for what will be evident up there. Clearly, we will hope to see a lot of epicormic growth, although in some areas, as the commentary suggests, the devastation on the ground looks pretty complete and it will take decades for even new succession to establish and grow out. Read More…
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CFA Advice on Haystack Fires

The CFA has issued a timely warning to farmers as the 2020 hay season approaches.

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In 2019, brigades across Victoria attended 86 such incidents and the tie-up of manpower is quite large, given many fires are almost impossible to extinguish due to the density of the fuel source, so just needs to be pulled apart to allow nature to finish the job..
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