Thanks to all our Sponsors & Supporters

On behalf of the Basalt to Bay Committee and myself, I'd like to thank all of our sponsors & supporters for 2008. Without you there would be no Landcare in the Basalt to Bay region.

A big thanks to the following sponsors :

• Glenelg Hopkins Catcment Managment Authority
• Landcare Australia
• Just Jeans
• Mt Franklin
• HBA
• The Gwen & Edna Jones Foundation

A big thanks to the following supporters :

• All of our committee members, especially Tim Bligh - the best boss a fella could want & a genuine nice guy, Jane O'Beirne - one wicked tree planter & a hell of a nice gal to boot, Karen Wales - the most switched on girl greenie I've ever met & Don McTaggart - the most tenacious try anything till I drop greenie this side of Lady Julia Percy Island
  
• All of B2B members especially Bruce Murtschin, Matt Talbott & Russell Mitchell
  
• Brenton Barsch from GHCMA - for his tireless work in turning B2B into something real & for helping me to find my feet
• Tanya Parker from GHCMA - for her tireless work on the MAD for the Merri Project & her nothing's too hard attitude to helping me get my head in the right place
• Margie Finnigan - for her evernescant attitude to making the CMA office user friendly & her willingness to do anything to make life more comfortable - you're a god send Margie
  
• Neil from Allansforest Nursery in Allansford & Owen at Cudgee Creek Native Plants in Cudgee - for providing the plants that have made all the difference - wicked green thumbs guys
• Dave Warne/Doug Phillips from Greening Australia - for all the seed & all the best advice a tree guru could give
• Matthew Ebden from Deakin University - for your passionate interest in finding out how environmental work makes a difference to human health & for having the desire to see what can come out of hybridizing the health and community welfare sectors
• Marni & the last Warrnambool Green Corps Crew - Thanks guys & good luck with 2009
• All the school kids & teachers who planted a forrest at Tozer Reserve - Thanks Brauer College, Warrnambool College & Warrnambool Primary School - we look forward to more great work in 2009
  

Thanks to everyone. Together we're making the world a better place for generations to come !

Thank you for all your help !!!

A big thank you to all the fantastic groups who helped us achieve our on ground works this year.






Especially :

• Brauer College students for planting at Tozer Reserve
• Warrnambool Primary students for planting at Tozer Reserve
• Warrnambool College students for planting Tozer Reserve
• Marni & her Green Corps crew for their boudaciously awesome work at Tozer Reserve, Hawkesdale Apex Park & Hawkesdale Common - wicked weeding doods !!!

What am I up to ?

Well, sadly it's new years day and a coordinators work never ends !!!
But alas, I am on holidays next week and I can't wait.

As for what I'm up to, here's a quick summary :

1. Setting up the blog
2. Setting up the website (yes it is way overdue)
3. Writing the second edition of Regenerate (our newsletter)
4. Developing a list of appropriate social & environmental funding for the network
5. Contemplating how to approach the Caring for Our Country Funding due on 6-3-09
6. Developing a coporate partnership strategy
7. Maintaining communication with key people in the network/connected to the network
8. Thinking about holidays

Western District Tree Muster

Basalt to Bay has been asked to apply for $62,000 from Landcare Australia for a project we’ve dubbed - Western District Tree Muster ; which will see 31,000 plus trees planted in 2009. Funding has been allocated to the Watershed 2000 project and the lower Moyne area. We hope to have funding in the bank soon. Confirmation of funding and updates of the project will be posted here and on our website.

All funds for the project have been allocated. Landcare Australia has asked us to plant 31,00o trees but we anticipate that this figure will be well over 100,000 trees with 14, 730 seedlings (mostly in the Rosebrook/Toolong/Hawkesdale area) and 18.755 ha of direct seeding (mostly in the Mortlake/Caramut area) to be planted.

The Emotional Landscape of Life on the Land

Life on the land isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Yeah you might have your freedom, plenty of open space and be lucky enough to be your own boss. But then there’s the isolation, the tyranny of being so far away from normal conveniences and the unpredictability of making a living from the land. Most people on the land live between extremes. You can have good years and crap years. One year you’ll have everything you need in abundance, while the next you’re just surviving. Life on the land can be bloody tough. Some people cling to hope year in year out, while others are realistic and accept that things will always change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. For farmers there’s also the lack of separation between work and home. Your home is your work - you can’t turn your back on a mob of sheep that have been stranded by flood in the middle of the night. But then neither can you sow a crop when you feel like it or take holidays when the kids are on holidays. You live at the beck and call of the elements. And nature is not always so kind - one minute she’s giving you all that you need, the next she’s taking it all away.

Despite this, life on the land is not always so bleak. And for the majority of land owners there is more good periods, then there are bad periods. But life on the land can be challenging, even during good times - thanks to the stresses of modern life and the stresses imposed by the things that no one can control. Farmers live in a world where there is no absolute certainties and they are as much at the mercy of export markets, as they are to the weather.

For all of us, life holds a rainbow of emotions - frustration, uncertainty, anger, excitement, hope, despair, grief, anticipation and curiosity - just to name a few. For people on the land, particularly farmers, all these emotions are pushed to the extreme. Few of us know how to stay calm and healthy at the best of times, let alone during times challenge and crisis. So, given that the emotional landscape of life on the land is as rugged and as diverse as the land itself, how do we survive ? I believe the there are 4 keys to surviving life on the land :

1. Being aware of our choices and knowing what we can control and what we can’t
2. Being mindful of our thoughts and feelings
3. Being aware of the cues that our bodies are sending us that something is not well
4. Maintaining healthy relationships with family, friends and other members of our support network.

Rather than exploring these in detail (which I’ll do in later issues), I’d like to offer a few exercises, which might help you to become more aware of how well you are functioning :

1. Make 2 columns. On 1 side right down what you can control and what you cant, then on a scale of 1-10 assign a value to how much stress each thing causes you. Note how much stress you allow the things you can’t control to cause you.
2A. Close you eyes for 5 minutes and sit still. Notice what thoughts arise and the feelings that each though generates. Allow your mind to wander off on tangents, then gently bring your attention back to your breath. How long before another thought kicks in ? And what is it’s flavour - is it negative or positive, does it require action or does it cause you stress. ?
2B. Take 5 minutes out of your day, to notice your mind. Are you paying attention to the moment or are you lost in thought about the past or the future ?
3. Close your eyes for 5 minutes and breath gently. Just notice any pain or discomfort or unusual sensations that arises in your body. Where is it and what does it feel like ? Just sit with it and allow it to be !
4A. Draw a circle with lines coming out of it. In the circle write ‘me’. At the end of the lines write down the names of all the people and groups in your life. Use bold lines for people you have great relationships with, dashed lines for ok relationships and no lines for people you wish that you had a relationship with. This is your current situation. Then create a map for some future time - say in a years time. Look at the differences and notice the relationships that need more work .
4B. See what happens if you abstain from criticizing for a whole day. If that works well try a whole week, then a whole month.
4C. Try praising 3 people every day.

If you, a partner, a mate or someone you know is experiencing difficulties, don’t hesitate to contact one of the following support services :

Mensline Australia : 1300 789 978 Lifeline : 13 11 14
Lifeline’s Information Line : 1300 13 11 13
Relationships Australia : 1300 364 277
Kids Help Line : 1800 551 800
Emma House Domestic Violence Services (Warrnambool) : 55 611 934
Community Connections (Warrnambool) : 1300 361 680
Sage Hill Carer Services (Warrnambool) : 55 615 261 .

Introducing Basalt to Bay Landcare Network

Basalt to Bay Landcare Network formed in late 2007, to coordinate Landcare activities across the Hopkins/Moyne catchments. A unique feature of the network is that it is independent of government agencies such as the Catchment Management Authority, Department of Sustainability and Environment, Department of Primary Industries and local government. Although we work closely with all these groups. The key role of the network will be to share knowledge, work collaboratively across Landcare groups, address natural resource management issues, help develop and coordinate funding applications and assist in the development and implementation of environmental projects. It’s ultimate aim is to help local Landcare groups work together towards bring about large scale landscape change in the Hopkins/Moyne catchment, linking environmental on ground works from one side of the Western District to the other.

8 Local Landcare groups/networks from Glenthompson to Warrnambool, have united under a common umbrella, to attract corporate, philanthropic and government funding, after years of having to do it themselves. Over the last few years the amount of public funding for on ground works has decreased significantly, leaving many Landcare groups in the area struggling to survive and with limited opportunities to do environmental work.

Basalt to Bay Landcare Network is a community driven initiative, which will consolidate the motivation, skills, knowledge and wisdom of individual Landcare groups. As a collective it is anticipated that it will have greater pulling power for funding and subsequently provide local Landcare groups with a new lease on life and greater opportunity to achieve large scale landscape change.

South West Victoria has some of the most beautiful landscape in the country but despite this the natural environment is in a poorer state than many other areas. Local environmental agencies and individual Landcare groups have identified a number of significant environmental issues in the region, including : a lack of native vegetation for biodiversity, ongoing threats to native flora and fauna, a lack of habitat for threatened species, poor condition of waterways, poor agricultural effluent management, erosion and salinity.

Basalt to Bay’s plans over the next 5 years are to : plant 1,225,000 trees, protect 450 ha of remnant species, treat 455 ha of weed species, erect 380 km of fencing, support 570 properties in natural resource management projects, invest $3,785,000 of in kind funds towards Landcare projects, utilise 130,000 hours of volunteer labour and develop projects over 60,000 ha of private and public land.

Blogosphere in the Biosphere

Well, Basalt to Bay Landcare Network has landed in the Blogosphere at last.

Happy new year and welcome to our Blog.

I hope to make this a complimatary one stop shop to our website. A place where you'll find updates on all our current projects and week to week updates on what I and the network are up to.

May 2009 be a happy, healthy and prosperous year for all.

;-) Richard Hudson.

Network Coordinator.