Talking Landcare evenings invite any interested community member to come and hear about anything environmentally relevant to the region.
This is an opportunity for people to get to know the Landcare Illawarra team and what we do as well as hear about exciting projects, stories and hear from interesting key note speakers on a range of topics!
The Illawarra is one of the most biologically diverse regions in NSW, supporting high value terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity.
Urban development, weed invasion and a decline in native fauna and flora populations pose a serious threat to this diversity, but local action is making a difference.
This June we will be hearing from a range of speakers who will be talking about wildlife and the importance of habitat creation, protection and restoration, and we will also hear about regional projects and initiatives anyone can get involved in and make a difference with.
Guest Speakers
Geetha Ortac
Geetha Ortac – Project Officer ‘Who’s living on my land?’ – National Parks Association NSW Inc (NPA NSW Inc)
Geetha has been delivering the ‘Who’s living on my land?’ program in important Great Eastern Ranges corridors in NSW with landholders since December 2013.
The program is a one of the unique citizen science programs being delivered by the NPA NSW Inc where landholders are loaned out remote infrared cameras to place on their property and monitor the presence/absence of native and feral animals.
The program has been delivered in the Shoalhaven area and shortly will be rolled out in the Illawarra region.
The results are often unexpected for landholders, where many species they may not have realised existed on their properties are often picked up by the cameras.
The program has been key to many landholders wanting to learn more about how to improve the condition of the native vegetation on their land, and documenting what is living on their land is often the first step.
Brendon Levot
Brendon Levot – Wildside Australia
Brendon has over 13 years’ experience in the conservation land management industry, during which time he has worked and managed all facets of many small and large scale restoration projects. Brendon has a strong volunteer background and passion in wildlife management which reflects within all of his restoration projects.
Brendon has a passion for educating the wider community about the importance of habitat protection and also highlights Australian native flora and fauna and various projects to a worldwide audience in the form of a successful online blog and documentary series ‘Wildside Australia’.
‘Wildside Australia’, launched in 2013 and has nearby 4000 followers on Facebook and several daily visits to the website. The young organisation aims to provide media in the form of film and photography for free to various volunteer organisations who may not be able to afford it, and some projects they are currently working on include “save the Abbotts Booby fund”, Christmas Island and “Mangey Wombat Management” in Western Sydney.
Richard Scarborough – ‘Illawarra Woodlands and Rainforest Project’ Project Officer – Landcare Illawarra &
Michael Andrews – Senior Land Services Officer – South East Local Land Services
Michael Andrews
Richard has been managing the ‘Illawarra Woodlands and Rainforest Project’ since 2008. Working with many land managers in the region, Richard has collected a diversity of seed, delivered thousands of plants and coordinated many conservation projects on private and public land.
The ‘Illawarra Woodland and Rainforest’ project works closely with other organisations including the Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority’s (now South East Local Land Services) ‘Escarpment to Sea’ program and now the ‘Enhancing Landscape Connectivity in the South Coast’ program being delivered by South East Local Land Services. Michael has working on these programs for a number of years and will talk about how the project connects landholders and helps them work towards establishing healthy corridors of habitat for wildlife conservation.
Richard and Michael will talk about the successes of their programs and the achievements to date as well as other regional programs which exist that people can become involved in across the Illawarra.
