Mid Lachlan Landcare sits in the Central Tablelands Landcare region along with Little River, Central Tablelands, Watershed, and Lithgow and Oberon Landcare groups. Funding from the Landcare Enabling program has made it possible for Landcare groups across New South Wales to employ full time co-ordinators, organised into regional teams. This week, our regional team got together to identify opportunities for us to work more closely together. We explored the benefits that might flow from economies of scale and worked on how we can create an environment for the cross-polination of ideas. A proposal focusing on how we might go about better understanding what drives people to volunteer was put forward, and we also spent time scoping out a plan for increasing our funding capacity. Finally we recognised the wisdom within Landcare networks such as ours and brainstormed how that might best be captured. It goes without saying that we also relished the chance to get to know each other, our facilitating team and our Local Land Services guests a little better.

While each of our Landcare patches differs in their ecological priorities and comminities land-use practices, demographics & interests, it was clear that we also have so much in common. I’m sure I’m not out of line in saying that we’re all focused on delivering even better value for our communities as a consequence of the time spent together.

Before we sat down to our two-day workshop, we took the opportunity to invite our Central Tablelands team members on a farm tour. We were delighted with the interest in this activity and super grateful to have Salinity expert and Organic grazier Wooly (Andrew Wooldrige), cattle grazier Anna Hickman and our Growing the Grazing Revolution Champion Scott Hickman on board to share their time and insights among the group. There’s no better way to learn than to go out on country and immersing one’s self in farm life. It truly helps you see, touch, taste and smell how sustainability and land conservation work from a farming perspective. It was lovely to be able to share that opportunity with our network and have them experience first-hand what it’s like to stand on top of the world (Woodstock) and be serenaded by a mob of cows who feel the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence (where we’re standing)!

“As we work on the land, the land works on us” Steve Fleischmann, Lithgow & Oberon Landcare