Projects
Practical work across our member groups: revegetation, soil, pests and partnerships.
Where things stand
4 of the 6 projects are funded and running now. The other 2 are being worked up, and the notes below say how far each has got.
FarmBlitz
Tree planting and practical workshops, tubestock in the ground, fencing along waterways, and skills days on grasses, dams and bush regeneration.
Climate Smart Agriculture
Growing natural capital on farms, a demonstration site at Lyndale Park, free soil testing for landholders, and events on building healthier, more resilient ground.
Climate Smart Agriculture, or Growing Natural Capital on Farms, runs from 2024 to 2028 with funding from the Goulburn Broken CMA through the Australian Government's Natural Heritage Trust. At the heart of it is a demonstration site at Lyndale Park on the Tallarook-Pyalong Road, a working property of more than 180 hectares where rotational grazing, water management, creek fencing and biolinks across the farm are being built up and monitored over several seasons. The program also offers 25 free comprehensive soil tests to local farmers, followed by a workshop on how to read the results, along with field days on farm dams, water on farm and building healthier ground. An undeveloped wetland at the Lyndale Park demonstration site is being brought on as a Climate Smart demo.
Rabbit & Weed Control
A two-year rabbit program in the Pyalong district, plus ongoing weed work, protecting plantings and giving native ground cover a chance.
Weeds and rabbits are easier to knock down when neighbours work on them at the same time, so the network coordinates control across property boundaries rather than paddock by paddock. Blackberry is the district's most persistent woody weed, and Dabyminga Landcare has run a rolling program on it for years, spraying road reserves, the Tallarook Common and private land with Goulburn Broken CMA funding, then coming back over the same ground in later seasons. Gorse, broom, briar rose, Paterson's curse, spiny rush and serrated tussock are the other weeds we keep an eye on, and several members hold an Agricultural Chemical Users Permit so the work is done safely. Rabbits are handled the same way, with warren destruction and clearing the above-ground harbour they shelter in.
Scaling Success
A cross-network partnership with the Up2Us Landcare Alliance, bringing university student groups onto local properties for hands-on delivery days focused on climate resilience in the farming landscape.
Building on Up2Us's 2023–2025 delivery round, Scaling Success spans several Landcare networks and hosts extension-week student groups on practical projects. In the South West Goulburn patch the early site options include a Climate Smart wetland demonstration at Lyndale Park, a hands-on planting day at the FarmBlitz site at Broadford (tubestock and fencing), and a propagation and seed-collection day with a nearby community nursery. Delivery dates are set by Up2Us around university breaks and the planting and seed-collection seasons, and will be announced once they are locked in.
Fox Control (SWG expansion)
A proposed coordinated fox-control program for the South West Goulburn area, extending the cooperative pest-animal model that already works in neighbouring districts.
Following interest from local landholders and neighbouring groups, the network is scoping a coordinated fox-control program for the South West Goulburn area. The approach draws on the cooperative pest-animal management model used to the north, landholders working together across property boundaries for far greater impact than baiting alone. A planning meeting is being arranged with interested partners, and landholders who want to take part can register their interest with the facilitator.
KPPAC Pest-Animal Monitoring
Coordinated pest-animal management and fauna monitoring modelled on the King Parrot Pest Animal Cooperative, motion cameras across participating properties tracking pest and native species.
The King Parrot Predatory Animal Control group (KPPAC) runs a coordinated, landscape-scale approach to pest-animal management, with fauna-monitoring cameras installed across dozens of participating properties to track both pest and native species. The network is looking at how the same cooperative, data-led model can support pest control, including the proposed fox-control program, across the South West Goulburn area.