23rd Dec 2022 | 

A Year in Review | Weeds Spotting | Wellbeing Workshops | Adopt a Penguin |  + more 

The Dirty Hands

December 2022

Merry Christmas from the Landcare Tas Team 🎄

It's been a big year for Landcare Tasmania. Thanks to all our supporters, volunteers, staff, and anyone that's come into our ever-growing sphere this year. 

We'd like to wish you a safe, enjoyable holiday season and hope you welcome the new year feeling refreshed. 

A word from our CEO

This year has been one of positive change for Landcare across Tasmania.

There has been a renewed interest from people getting involved in the movement and we are grateful to provide our network with the support they need. From community groups, businesses, individuals and private landholders, people all over Tasmania are doing their bit to protect, restore and manage our landscapes.

It hasn’t always been easy thanks to some serious weather events such as the floods and wind storms in the north but the Landcare community managed to bounce back. We still need to reflect on the achievements over the years and to celebrate the amazing natural values that support us. It would not look like or function the way it does now without the Landcare community. It would be a different world without Landcare.

The hard work, the local patch gatherings, the noticeable paddock yield increases and the clean water are all to be celebrated. With such a big year almost behind us, we at Landcare Tasmania have been building a solid foundation to support an even better year next year, one that supports communities and catchments for the long-term benefits of generations to come.

It’s time to reflect and rejuvenate and celebrate.

Warm regards from Peter and the Landcare Tasmania Team

2022 Landcare Tas Wrapped 

Check out our cheesy wrap-up of 2022 (It brought a tear to Evie's eye!) 

This year:

• Over 6,000 volunteers participated in doing on-ground works
• At our annual member survey we logged 107,000 volunteer hours - that’s over 12 years of time donated by our wonderful vollies!
• We wrapped up four landscape-scale projects, which covered over 63 project sites, with over 26,400 trees planted
• We launched the Northern Slopes Landscape Project, which will support threatened species such as the Tasmanian devil, little penguin, barred bandicoot and much more
• We held 42 Landcare workshops across the state- helping turn best intentions into best practice and better environmental outcomes
• We gained 130 new members, making a total of 514 group and individual members! That’s a 71% increase since 2020 – the Landcare movement is growing fast.
• Two Tasmanian Landcarers won National Landcare Awards 
• We welcomed four new staff members, Cynthia, Claire, Lily and Anna, who will help us achieve exciting things in 2023

What's next? 

• Huon & Channel Landscape Project Launch and many more projects
• 2023 Conference! Set to be a huge culmination of practical Landcare skills sharing 
• A packed Outreach Events calendar 
• In June, it will be two years since the UN announced the start of the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration  

Bandicoot Dancers

We highly recommend watching the Bandicoot Dancers from Mole Creek Primary School Outdoor Camera– part of our School Citizen Science Program in 2022! Thanks to Cynthia for putting this fun video together. 

Landcare Tasmania Office Closure

Our office will be closed from Thursday 22nd December and will re-open on Monday 9th January.

Donate This Giving Season 

Give back to the earth this giving season, with a donation to our tax-deductible gift-recipient, the Tasmanian Landcare Fund. 

Learning how to Spot Weeds

We would like to thank weed expert Sharon Young for presenting so brilliantly at our Weeds Workshop last Saturday. Sharon took the time to collect lots of good quality weed samples (even if one of the arum lilies smelt like roadkill!) to showcase to workshop-ers.

This (incomplete, yet very large) selection of weeds was found within a 20 minute walk from the workshop area! Laying the loot of local weeds on her big yellow truck, Sharon went through how these plants reproduce and spread - essential knowledge for understanding how to control them.

Workshop-ers took a short walk along the river track where Sharon demonstrated various methods of weed control such as cutting and pasting using a dabber, foliar spraying, scraping stems with herbicide, hand pulling, and using dish-washing sponges attached to the inside of tongs (!) to apply herbicide to long, flat leaves such as those of bulbs.

📣The main message Sharon had for us was that any weed control we do needs to be followed up. Follow up, follow up, follow up!

This was a highly practical and informative workshop where Landcarers learnt some extra tips for undertaking their weed control as successfully as possible. It was also a fantastic opportunity to catch up with other group members along the coast who we hadn't seen in a while!

This workshop is part of our Outreach Program which aims to increase capacity for Landcarers so that all our land and coasts can be cared for by the community.  Funded by: Braddon MP Gavin Pearce through the Volunteer Grants and the Tasmanian Landcare Fund. 

Member Focus: UTAS Landcare Society 

The powerhouse team at UTAS Landcare Society have been in the news lately. Check it out. 

Video: UTAS Landcare Society was a finalists in the Green Gown Awards Australasia (2022).  "Since the project began in 2019 the Landcare Society has hosted over fifty events, supported more than 30 individual Landcare groups, worked with three local councils, co-hosted community engagement events with five other UTAS university societies, worked on eight different agricultural properties, and have engaged a total of 968 UTAS students across all our activities"

Article: How Bin Ling is learning about native plants through her local Landcare group

"Bin Ling's first foray into the bush was via her university's Landcare group. Her friends invited her to come along first to pick up rubbish and then to help remove invasive pines.

"Suddenly I'm outside with a pair of loppers cutting pines thinking, 'Gee this feels good'," she says.

Bin has been a dedicated Landcare Volunteer since we first encountered her vibrant energy in 2019 - this article is definitely worth a read. 

This features as part of our Member Support Program.  Do you need us to spread the word about your Landcare project? Become a Member and join the network. 

Member Focus: Introducing Sprat 

A Certificate of Adoption is a great way to give this season. You can help the amazing team at Penguin Rehab & Release do their vital work caring for seabirds by donating and 'adopting' Sprat, a little penguin in care.

Sprat is a penguin chick who came into the care of the Penguin Rehab and Release from their local penguin colony at West Beach. If you would like to help support him, you can 'adopt' Sprat by donating to Penguin Rehab & Release who will issue you with a Certificate of Adoption. 

This features as part of our Member Support Program.  Do you need us to spread the word about your Landcare project? Become a Member and join the network. 

Caring for Landcarers 

This workshop is part of our Outreach Program which aims to increase capacity for Landcarers so that all our land and coasts can be cared for by the community.  Funded by: Braddon MP Gavin Pearce through the Volunteer Grants and the Tasmanian Landcare Fund.