11 Jun 2020 - Julie Collins MP meets up with Landcare Tasmania CEO Rod Knight and member group Friends of Huon Island to celebrate two grants under the Federal Government's 2019-2020 Volunteer Grants Program.
Friends of Huon Island do a lot of work on the water as part of their volunteering, but all their volunteer life jackets were coming to the end of their lifespan. With Landcare Tasmania assisting the group in the application process, Friends of Huon Island have been awarded a grant for the group to be furnished with locally made state of the art Stormy Lifejackets.
Stormy managing director Helen Moore gave us a run down of how her Hobart made life jacket/come all weather rain coats work. The business came to life 15 years ago with her vision of helping save Tasmanian fisherman lives with a user friendly life jacket system that "at the time, didn't exist and I was told would never be possible!" 
We thank Julie for supporting our local volunteer community group with a $2,240 grant for these amazing life jackets, integral to their volunteer work, that also supports a fantastic local Tasmanian business.
Julie is also pleased to support Landcare Tasmania with a $5000 grant to assist volunteers right across the Franklin community in undertaking training to up their citizen science skills as part of their volunteering duties.
The project is to purchase a range of modern wildlife survey equipment and to develop and deliver training to Landcare groups in the Franklin electorate. Groups across the State are taking an increasing interest in the design and delivery of volunteer-based, citizen science programs to support better planning and management of the environment. There are 85 Landcare groups in the electorate – more than any other Tasmanian electorate - working with thousands of volunteers annually.
The equipment to be purchased will be maintained by Landcare Tasmania and made available to Landcare groups wishing to undertake surveys using items such as infra-red wildlife camera (6), bat detectors (3) and bird recorders (3). Depending on final pricing we would aim to include a pair of infra-red night vision binoculars for visual survey work.
Under the project Landcare Tasmania will also develop a series of guides on the design of surveys, the use of equipment, data processing, use of data collected during surveys (particularly it being lodged in the official Natural Values Atlas) and how to incorporate it into the development and delivery of management actions in both natural and working environments. Training workshops will be conducted to give people in Landcare groups practical learning of the essentials of running citizen science projects.
Photos 📸: Friends of Huon Island volunteers with Helen Moore, Julie Collins and Rod Knight.
Plus a sneak peek into the jacket making warehouse. Photos by Landcare Tas team member Kat Traill.
Keep your eyes on Landcare Tasmania's Facebook and Instagram for more interesting projects Landcare Tasmania members have been up to.
