Current Projects

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The Ovens Landcare Network received a Federal Government Smart Farms Small Grant to enable landholders to develop Property Management Plans and undertake peer to peer learning so they could prioritise and implement on-ground actions. 

Through this project the network supported the development of 180 property maps across our catchment and gave landholders resources and tools to take the next steps in making sustainable changes on their properties. 

The Ovens Landcare Network received a Federal Government Future Drought Fund Resilience Grant to run a series of workshops across our catchment exploring a variety of factors that can influence the impacts of droughts and management techniques to support land managers facing drought conditions.

The Ovens Landcare Network undertook a project to increase education and the accessibility of regenerative agriculture within our catchment. The aim of this project was to give producers tools to increase the resilience of their properties in the face of a changing climate through improving soil health.

We  hosted a webinar with Graeme Hand of Stipa Native Grasses who is a specialist in farm business viability and the recording of this is available here. 

We also held an event Life Underground: Improving Soil Health with David Hardwick of Soil Land Food in Myrtleford with some great hands on learning. 

Through this program we also supported a number of landholders with historical soil data to undertake more soil tests and participate in a soil test interpretation workshop with local expert Sue Briggs.

European Wasps are a significant threat to our local biodiversity, urban amenity, and agricultural activities. With the support of grant funds the OLN distributed information and subsided wasp traps throughout our Network. We sold European Wasp species-specific traps for individuals, businesses, and community groups to utilise. These traps aimed to reduce queen numbers in spring before they begin new nests, and to reduce the numbers of workers throughout summer that provision nests and can diminish nest strength enough that they collapse.

One of the major gaps in the seasonal distribution of introduced dung beetles in our area is the absence of species that are active in spring. As a consequence, unburied spring dung locks up nutrients that could benefit pasture production and the environment (e.g. water quality) and allows spring breeding of the pestilent bush fly.

Through this project the Ovens Landcare Network worked to establish two starter colonies of two spring active dung beetle species in the Ovens Valley.

The Ovens Landcare Network is working to support four member groups (Chiltern, Indigo Valley, Rutherglen, and Wooragee) to work with the Indigo Shire and other roadside managers to improve the biodiversity values of four roadsides in their communities. In conjunction with undertaking on-ground works such as weed control and revegetation, we are working to improve local understanding on the values of roadsides as habitat and linkages for our local biodiversity. 

This invasive species affects local industry and community members who grow their own produce. Over the past two years the network worked with Landcare groups across the network to successfully run multiple information sessions to educate our local community on Queensland Fruit Fly and the many options available to control and reduce their numbers. We have also been able to distribute species-specific traps and netting products at subsidised prices to our community.

The Ovens Landcare Network has worked closely with local Farmers and Community Markets to further educate our community and distribute these products. We have also developed fantastic relationships with our Visitor Information Centres to provide another avenue for the local community to access local control information and these subsided products.

The Burgoigee Creek, Hodgson & Horseshoe Creeks, and Springhurst & Byawatha Landcare Groups are working  to raise awareness and implement on-ground management to protect their waterways, reduce soil erosion, and increase the health and number of paddock trees in their farming landscape. 

A series of workshops will provide information and help develop community understanding of best practice management. Recordings of our webinars can be viewed here. Project support will be provided to develop site plans for up to 10 landholders from each of the three Landcare Groups. Fencing and re-vegetation incentives will be offered to landholders to protect waterways and scattered paddock trees.