Local Land Services and Landcare conference 2019

November 2019

Local Land Services and Landcare Conference - Broken Hill

Peter Pigott, Regional Agriculture Landcare Facilitator

Last month over 300 participants gathered in Broken Hill for the 2019 NSW Landcare and Local Land Services conference and to celebrate the NSW Landcare Awards. These events provide a valuable opportunity for community from across the state to get together, share ideas and experiences and solidify existing networks, particularly during difficult times like these.

The South East region celebrated three of its own champions on the NSW stage this year:

• Nerrida Croker in the Individual Landcarer category and will be NSW’s representative at the National Landcare Awards in 2020
• Gunning District Landcare took out the BCF Give Back to Fish Habitat Award
• The Save our Superb Parrot Project was a finalist Landcare Partnerships Category.

This year’s theme of Healthy Landcare, Healthy Landscapes brought the focus on to the people, organisations and partnerships that care for land and water as well as their achievements in looking after our landscapes.

A series of presentations, panel discussions and field trips over the two days exposed participants to knowledge and examples of how landscapes can be understood and managed; how volunteers, young and not-so-young, can be involved; and how partnerships between a range of organisations can make a real difference in communities and landscapes.

Healthy Landscapes brought a focus a range of ideas including:

• Ecosystem Management Understanding, a practice used in Western NSW were farmers and scientists team up to design and implement management systems that care for the land and the enterprise.
• John Leys from the NSW Government shared his research on how much vegetation is needed to protect the land from erosion.
• Susan Orgill from NSW DPI presented on growing more biomass and storing more carbon.

Under the theme of Healthy Landcare, participants heard from a number of presenters speaking about engaging young people, in school and beyond; and heard of Broken Hill Landcare’s extraordinary Greening the Hill Mk2 project that launched 39 projects simultaneously earlier this year. This initiative offers a range of Landcare activities that everyone in Broken Hill can get involved in.

The conference is an excellent opportunity to learn about natural resource management and sustainable agriculture and to hear about examples of where Landcare, Local Land Services and other organisations are working together to look after our land, water and communities.

For more information about the program and presentations, please visit https://nswlandcareconference.com.au/