Current Activity

In 2020 we were funded by the Communities Environment Program through the office of Angus Taylor MP, for a serrated tussock project to support landholders doing chemical weed control work on their properties. This is a continuation of HCLG’s long-term work on weeds of concern in the district.

The funding covers the cost of appropriate chemicals for interested landholders as well as some of the cost of using spraying contractors. It will also cover any chemical certification training needed by landholders doing the work themselves. A workshop on the use of chemicals for serrated tussock control was planned for 2020 but was not held due to covid-19 constraints. Best practice safety and use information has been distributed instead. The project is due for completion by early 2021.

Project update June 2021

In spite of many unavoidable delays, we have made good progress on our Milestone 1 erosion control works. Works have been completed at six sites on three properties, Kooringle, Riverslea and Balloch, and they are already proving their worth in the current rainy conditions. Seeding and planting of the areas worked on is in progress. The project is proudly sponsored by the NSW Environmental Trust and south East Local Land Services.

In May 2021, we had an erosion control field day to showcase works done during our previous erosion control project, generously sponsored by Central Tablelands Local Land Services, and to talk about the current project, different methods and costs of erosion control and past works by HCLG members. The day was a great success and we look forward to the next one. The media release and talks given on the day can be accessed here:

In 2020, HCLG received $99,883 from the Environmental Trust Restoration and Rehabilitation Fund to do erosion control works on category 1 and 2 streams on eight properties. We were also granted complementary funding of $29,045 from South East Local Land Services (SELLS) to do planting and seeding to stabilise the works and the gullies and to fence them from stock.

This is a major collaborative project between HCLG, SELLS and NSW Soil Conservation Service project and will be done over two years. It is part of a long-term strategy by the group to address regional issues by doing works locally and we have applied for further grant funding to cover another nine properties over the next three years. The regional issues are the existence of a 140km long sand slug in the Lachlan River between Cowra and Forbes that has been created by erosion from properties in the catchment and the consequent impacts of this additional sedimentation on water quality, threatened species and habitats. Locally, the project will address the issues of loss of soil and water from the properties.

NSW Soil Conservation Service will do the works and landholders will do the fencing, planting and seeding.

With a $10,000 grant from South East Local Land Services, HCLG has installed a soil moisture probe and long-term automatic rainfall/soil moisture monitoring site on a property in Hovells Creek valley. The monitoring station has been linked to the South East Network of monitoring sites and information from the site can be accessed at https://farmingforecaster.com.au/ The Farming Forecaster site also has several short videos on how to understand and use the information from the probe. As part of the project, soil carbon and pH testing are underway at several member properties. A workshop is proposed specifically for members to help with understanding the benefits of soil testing and the soil moisture probe network for their farm management decision making.

A consortium of 5 Landcare groups (Lachlandcare, Mid Lachlan Landcare, Hovells Creek Landcare, Boorowa Community Landcare and Upper Lachlan Landcare) partnering with Cowra Woodland Birds, Greening Australia and NPWS have been working to protect the iconic and endangered Superb Parrot. The SOSP group received $400k from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) through the NSW Government’s Saving Our Species (SoS) program. Over the last 3 years the groups have been delivering on-ground protection and restoration of important habitat for the threatened Superb Parrot, and will continue to do so into 2021.

The project was launched with a workshop in August 2018 and a field day was held as a follow-up in October. Landholders heard what is being done to save the species and learnt how to count individual parrots on their land and how to protect living and large, dead, hollow-bearing eucalypt trees that provide nest sites for superb parrots.

The SOSP group provided funding to support farmers to plant new paddock trees and shrubs and restore woodlands to increase future habitat and landscape connectivity for superb parrots from small patches through to whole of paddock revegetation actions. HCLG members planted twelve paddock trees on each of two properties where Superb Parrots have been seen and a third landholder is in the process putting in 1800m of fencing around a gully to protect known Superb Parrot habitat. The landholders have been working closely with Damon Oliver from the Department of Planning, Industry and the Environment to monitor and report on the number of birds on their property since the beginning of the project.

The SOSP also provided funding for roadside signage to educate the public about the parrot.

This community-based project adds to the work already being done by farmers and Landcare groups who have planted hundreds of thousands of trees and shrubs in paddocks, along fence lines and creeks and rivers and will help a range of other threatened woodland birds.