The purpose of the plan is to describe how the CCMA will support Landcare (including community-based natural resource management groups such as volunteer environment and Friends groups) in the management of the region’s natural resources.

Click here to access the draft plan. 

Alternatively, if you wish to receive hard a copy of the draft plan via mail, you can contact Jackie Scally on 5232 9100 or at jackie.scally@ccma.vic.gov.au. Copies of the draft plan are also available at the CCMA offices at Colac and Geelong.

The CCMA would greatly appreciate your feedback on this draft plan. Comments to the plan are due by Monday 3rd June.

You can submit your comments via email or mail to the following:

Email: jackie.scally@ccma.vic.gov.au

Mail: Att: Jackie Scally
Corangamite CMA
PO Box 159
Colac 3250

If you would like further information on the draft plan or have any queries, please contact Jackie Scally on 5232 9100

The 2013 Corangamite Landcare Awards provide an opportunity for our community to promote the tireless work volunteers put in to create an environmentally sound region for future generations. The Corangamite CMA acknowledges many of these people do it for the love of our environment and not for recognition, but we feel it is important to honour them and show the extraordinary work they are achieving in our region.

The Corangamite CMA thanks the individuals, groups and organisations who entered the awards this year and who have contributed to improving community, land, river, and biodiversity health in our catchment. We congratulate you and thank you for your commitment and passion to the Landcare movement in Corangamite.

• Individual Landcarer Award – Simon Cook
• Innovation in Sustainable Agriculture Award – Craig and Tania Davis
• Young Landcare Leader Award – Ammie Jackson
• Corangamite Landcare Coordinator Award – Mandy Coulson
• Junior Landcare Team Award – Birregurra Landcare Champion Club
• Corangamite Community Group Award – Moorabool Catchment Landcare Group
• Corangamite Landcare Network Award  - Woady Yaloak Catchment Group
• Coastcare Award – Bellarine Catchment Network, Swan Bay Environment Association and the Borough of Queenscliffe
• Landcare Agency Partnerships Award – Barwon Water
• Corangamite Landcare Honour Roll – Roger Hardley and Geoff McFarlane

Follow the link to download the full award recipients booklet. 

Click here to view photos of the day

The program is designed to fund projects to enable NRM community groups, networks and their volunteers to undertake effective on ground works to increase ecosystem resilience and contribute to sustainable landscapes.

The grants program will support projects that align to categories of:

• on ground projects linking local priorities to targeted regional and state priorities
• capacity building activities for stewardship and on ground change
• Landcare group support

 Applicants can apply for funding up to a maximum of $40,000 (Grant Type A) for major integrated projects (terms and conditions apply).

In recognition of the costs associated with running an incorporated Landcare group, support grants of $500 are also available (Grant Type B). 

Applications close 12pm Friday 7 June 2013

Follow the links below to download application documents

CLG Regional Guidelines 2013-14
CLG Application Form - Type A
CLG Application Form - Type B 

For further information, please contact the Landcare staff on (03) 5232 9100.

There is also a great write up about the 2012 Victorian Landcare Forum hosted in Geelong by Corangamite Landcare!

Click here to open the newsletter

Click here to open the event invitation

Click here to open the RSVP card

11.00am               Explore Tarndwarncoort, visit the Landcare    Photography Exhibition and enjoy the music

12.00pm               Lunch by Sorella Foods, Birregurra

1.00pm                 Guest speaker and award ceremony

2.00pm                 Catch up with friends & enjoy the local food and wine

3.00pm                  Depart

YOU MUST RSVP - please call Tracey McRae on 5232 9100 or email landcareawards@ccma.vic.gov.au and let us know if you will be coming so we have enough delicious food to go around. 

Brent Rodden

Peter and Christine Forster are Carbon farmers, amongst other things. Their "Bullock Hills" block is at the summit of the Great Dividing Range near Ararat. Its fine granitic sandy topsoil, most of which was blown over from the other side of the Range, requires careful management to limit erosion.

During the relative dampness of the 2012 summer one of the 300 year old river redgums seeded and, rather than poisoning the resulting seedlings in his wheat paddock, Peter built a fence around them. He is in the process of adding the resulting 1.8 Hectares paddock to his Carbon Farming folio. 

The Forsters are one of the first farming families to become registered generators of carbon credits in Australia, which allows them to sell their credits to companies that are seeking carbon offsets to meet pollution targets. However, Peter cautions that future swings in the price of carbon will probably not allow this form of farming to reliably put food on the table. 

He believes that planting trees and pastures must have a purpose other than carbon farming. So far at "Bullock Hills" his folio consists of tubestock plantings amongst the rocks at the top of the property, as well as a disused sand mining pit and an adjacent wetland.

Recent direct seeding of 20 metre wide windbreaks have also been added to the register and Peter is working on a plan to restore the less productive and unstable higher ground back to its original - 20% canopy cover, by directly seeding trees at wide spacings in amongst native pasture. The Carbon farming rules allow for such areas to be grazed. 

The end result will see an amazing transformation of a block which Peter describes as follows: "At the time of purchase the block was overgrazed, especially the tops of the hills which were devoid of any vegetation. Rabbit warrens covered most of the upper rocky areas. Dryland salinity triggered by local clearing (was) a major issue."

Most of the hurdles in front of Peter and Christine were identical to those faced by many, many farmers today. What makes their efforts so remarkable is that they have, with the exception of the volunteer regrowth of the redgums, tackled the tough bits first - the areas of low productivity - the rocks, the erosion and the swamps. Their commitment to Carbon farming has obviously been a key motivator in structuring and carrying out their plans.

CARBON TRADING

There are many rules relating to trading of carbon. In a nutshell the Forsters sought registration with the Canberra-based Carbon Credits Administrator to be added to the Australian National Registry of Emissions Units. They submitted map references for the area concerned and described the vegetation. After approving the job, Canberra then put the data into their computer models and calculated how many tonnes of Carbon the area would sequester. The Forsters are then issued carbon credits which they can choose to trade when they feel the price is right. 

Following registration, the area is audited twice in the first 10 years and is continually checked by satellite.

Since Agriculture is the only industry that can generate carbon credits, Canberra is very interested in encouraging farmers to be involved in Carbon farming. The size of the areas involved don't seem to matter and aggregation of several sites on different properties is allowed.

www.climatechange.gov.au/cfi

www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/Carbon-Farming-Initiative/ANREU

www.cleanenergyfuture.gov.au

www.daff.gov.au/climatechange/carbonfarmingfutures

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Brent Rodden was invited on a 2 day carbon farming tour of the Western Districts, in April 2013, organised by the Corangamite Catchment Authority and sponsored by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. Notes from the tour are available on request.

 To date 68 landholders plus 3 contractors/leaseholders have been engaged through phone contact and property visits.

52 properties have signed 5yr property management agreements, 47 of which have had spraying completed.

2 properties are still waiting quotes or reply to quotes

9 properties had either recently sprayed gorse or planned to spray gorse without assistance from the program.

5 properties visited did not have gorse.

All landholders visited were engaged in discussions about weed and pest control where relevant and informed of the benefits of becoming or renewing their landcare membership.

All landholders receiving the 50% funding assistance through this program will be required to be a current financial member of the Barrabool Hills Landcare Group. The spraying of properties has been progressing well in recent weeks with the larger projects to be completed by autumn 2013. There are some properties needing follow up spraying as some plants were missed the first time.

To date approx. $10000 of funding has been committed for paddock gorse spraying and approx. $9500 for waterways spraying.

There was a budget of approx. $10,000 for paddock gorse and $10,000 for waterway gorse spraying.

Pending agreement with the last two properties, the project funding is fully allocated.

I will be following up properties this autumn, to make sure contractors are payed and landcare group rebates are distributed as is detailed in the land management agreements.

Jim Seager.

The awards are an opportunity for the Corangamite community to raise the profile of the excellent work undertaken by members of the community in providing an environmentally sound region for future generations. While the Corangamite CMA acknowledges that many of these people do it for the love of our environment and the landscape, not for recognition, we feel it is important to honour these people, to show what can be achieved by ordinary people who do extraordinary things. 

For more information on the award categories, click here to open the information brochure. 

To nominate, all you need to do is, click here to.....

COMPLETE THE SURVEY 

or go to www.surveymonkey.com/s/landcareawards 

SAVE THE DATE!

Join us for a celebratory lunch to acknowledge local community groups and individuals that generously volunteer to improve the health of our region’s catchments. There will be plenty of time to catch up with friends, explore Tarndwarncoort and see the Corangamite Landcare Photography Exhibition.

Click here to find out more!

Inventory of plants currently held at the nursery

               SPECIES                            AMOUNT

• Melicytus dentata ( bush violet) 250

• Acacia implexa (lightwood) 350

• Callitris glaucophylla (cypress pine) 100

• Acacia melanoxylon (blackwood) 450

• Acacia dealbata (black wattle) 200

• Acacia pycnantha (golden wattle) 65

• Callistemon sieberi 250

• Eucalyptus camaldulensis (red gum) 350

• Eucalyptus viminalis (yellow gum) 450

• Bursaria spinosa 450 They are a little to small to plant out

• Allocasuarina verticillata (drooping sheoak)  450

TOTAL 3,365 Plants

 
Contact details: Jillian Rough, Phone 52269295,
email: Jillian.Rough@barwonwater.vic.gov.au

Nursery Location: Barwon Terrace, South Geelong

Barrabool Hills Landcare Group – Gorse project update 20/2/13

To date 60 landholders plus 3 contractors/leaseholders have been engaged through phone contact and property visits.

42 properties have signed 5yr property management agreements, 37 of which have had spraying completed.

2 properties are still waiting quotes or reply to quotes

7 properties had either recently sprayed gorse or planned to spray gorse without assistance from the program.

5 properties visited did not have gorse.

All landholders visited were engaged in discussions about weed and pest control where relevant and informed of the benefits of becoming or renewing their landcare membership.

All landholders receiving the 50% funding assistance through this program will be required to be a current financial member of the Barrabool Hills Landcare Group.

The spraying of properties has been progressing well in recent weeks with the larger projects to be completed by autumn 2013. There are some properties needing follow up spraying as some was missed the first time.

To date approx. $9000 of funding has been committed for paddock gorse spraying and approx. $8500 for waterways spraying.

There was a budget of approx. $10,000 for paddock gorse and $10,000 for waterway gorse spraying.

Therefore there is still an opportunity for properties to participate in this program.

Please contact the project co-ordinator, Jim on 0409935700 to organise a property inspection.

Jim Seager.

Barrabool HillsLocation

CERES, GREATER GEELONG CITY

Google Maps and Google Streetview

File Number

L10294

Level of Significance

Regional

For further details go to the National Trust website

Statement of Significance

What is significant?

The Barrabool Hills are a distinctive upland ridge located to the west of Geelong, on the south side of the Barwon River. They slope steeply on the northern side down to the Barwon River, and more gently southward to the coastal lowland. Numerous Aboriginal sites have been located in the area. The area today has an open pastoral landscape with few houses and few trees, contrasting with the more densely settled surrounding lowlands. There are extensive views, many of which have been depicted in well-known landscape paintings. The area has been the source of one of Victoria's most important building stones: the remains of quarries are still visible, and there are several stone buildings including cottages, barns and churches. The grassy woodlands attracted settlers from the late 1830s, and it was the home of the first vineyards in Victoria.

How is it significant?

The Barrabool Hills are significant for its aesthetic qualities and for geological and geomorphological reasons at Regional Level,

The Barrabool Hills are significant for it strong association with indigenous peoples at a Regional Level.

The Barrabool Hills are of historical importance at a Regional level.

Why is it significant?

The Barrabool Hills are of high scenic quality, including views towards the hills from the surrounding area, such as those from Geelong, Victoria's second largest city, and from the shipping channels into Corio Bay. Being much higher than the land around they also offer long views from the hills outwards, particularly to the north, and there are striking internal views of an open, undulating pastoral landscape. The scenic quality has been recognised by many well-known artists, and the hills figure prominently in early paintings of the Victorian landscape, many of which are on display at the nearby Geelong Art Gallery.

The area was important to the Aboriginal people, and Aboriginal Affairs Victoria has listed numerous sites in the Barrabool Hills. An important description of Aboriginal life in the area on the eve of European settlement is found in the account of William Buckley, who escaped from the convict settlement at Sorrento and spent thirty years living with the local Aboriginal tribe, the Wathaurong, around the Bellarine Peninsula and the Barrabool Hills.

The Cretaceous sandstones that underlie much of the Barrabool Hills are the source of the highly regarded Barrabool Stone, a greenish, even textured sandstone worked in quarries around Ceres from the 1850s. It has used for many prominent public buildings in Melbourne and Geelong as well as locally. Currently there are eleven Heritage Overlays in the Barrabool Hills within Surf Coast Shire, mostly protecting buildings of local stone.

Many of the European settlers who came to Victoria in the 1830s entered via the Port of Geelong, and the Barrabool Hills, visible from the port area, were regarded as potentially valuable pastoral country. As a result most of the area was selected for squatting runs by the late 1830s, and then surveyed in the 1840s for some of the earliest land sales in Victoria (Appendix 1G: Three parish maps). Ownership of the land encouraged the development of longer term crops such as vineyards: the area was the main source of wine grapes in Victoria until the industry was wiped out by Phylloxera in the 1880s.

Classified: 01/06/2009

History

Municipality GREATER GEELONG CITY

(Build 92 (26518) / 21/07/12 - 84726 places Online

Source: http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au then type "barrabool hills" into the search box. Ed.