Meeting Minutes

BLACKBERRY ACTION AND BIOCONTROL: Report to Mitta Valley Landcare AGM 2018

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unnamedMVLG is a member group of the Mitta to Murray Blackberry Action Group, a network of local Landcare Groups and business and government partners. Our representatives on this network are currently Doris Razeng (Secretary of the Group), Bob Kendall and Glenda Turnbull. In addition, many of our members are participants in the Blackberry Action program.

This year our program continued on 170 private properties covering a cumulative 39,500 ha of land. Over 8,000 ha of blackberry had been treated at the last M2MBAG report and this continues to increase although due to funding limitations and time pressures, no new properties were recruited. We have a waiting list and expect that to change for the coming year.

NSW Landcare & LLS Conference – Albury

I took our message about Blackberry to the conference. We displayed a poster, and I had a 20 minute slot in the speaker program. Our message thus travelling far and wide.

Tallangatta Expo

MVLG was a major partner with M2MBAG in presenting a Landcare pavilion at the Tallangatta Expo in April. Other participating groups included Bryants Gap, Talgarno-Wyses Creek, Bethanga and Kiewa Valley. Our Project Officer Paula Sheehan also brought along display material from the Holbrook Landcare Network. Environmental management and biological control were key themes – invasive weed, dung beetle, soil health and native ecology displays attracted many visitors. Most people who visited the Expo had a look at our pavilion. A lot of valuable networking went on and a very positive relationship with Tallangatta Rotary Club has begun. As an added bonus, our show is now on its way to the Henty Field Days, where it will receive even broader exposure.

Blackberry Biocontrol Research:

M2MBAG is partnering with Ag Vic, CSIRO, MLA, NECMA and Biocontrol Victoria in a very exciting project to identify insects that live on blackberry and may be suitable biological control agents in Australia. Dr Raelene Kwong and Franz Mahr have recently returned from a research trip to Europe with very positive results. An educational video has been prepared and a preview is available to be shown at our AGM. We hope this will help us attract more support and funding for the program.

As a partner in this initiative, M2MBAG has committed to fund tFranz’s travel costs for this trip which were just under $3,000. We have so far paid to him contributions of $1500 raised from M2MBAG, Bryants Gap and Mitta Valley Landcare Groups. We are continuing fundraising for the balance; any money that is over-subscribed once Franz’s account is covered will be applied to support further biological control research activities.

And finally, The Best Good News!

Just recently, we have been offered a grant of just over $48,000 from the National Landcare Smart Farms program. Whilst this is yet to be confirmed with contracts, we hope the grant will help us to continue and extend our blackberry and invasive control program to more participants and communities, including within the Mitta to Murray Landcare region, and to the Benambra/Omeo/Dinner Plains area.  By allowing for more project officer time, it will also help us adopt a more holistic approach within the program to tackling

In summary, this has been a remarkable year for us, and one in which unique opportunities for the future have emerged.

Doris Razeng, Secretary

Mitta to Murray Blackberry Action Group

DEER PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT – By Karen Moroney

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MITTA VALLEY LANDCARE GROUP AGM 25 AUGUST, 2018

Since 2015 the MVLG has lead a Project based around Deer and the impact of the ever increasing numbers on our environment and the economic losses it creates for Landholders.

As many of our members are aware, from 2015 to the present day, we have participated in and held a number of Community and Regional meetings to gather information and identify the major issues the emergence of this new pest is creating.

These events identified four broad categories:

Deer, People, Productivity and Environmental Issues.

On a regional scale, this past year has seen some exciting developments occur due to the focused work that has been carried out at grass roots level by Landcare Groups, such as ourselves, in the North East. We have been ably assisted and supported by the North East Catchment Authority, and in particular Lachlan Campbell, I wish to thank you for that support as we all work towards the goal of managing deer and the impacts they create, as it is only by working together that much can be achieved. Regionally our group has had a place at the Regional discussions held twice a year in Wangaratta and which include stakeholders representing from diverse areas of DELWP DETJAR, Parks Victoria, The Game Management Authority,. Regional Shire Councils, CMA’s, VICPOL, ADA and I have most likely overlooked others. From these discussions it became paramount if things were to change to address some critical areas such as carcass removal and use, that the Victorian Legislation was going to have to change to allow for commercial opportunities to allow the harvesting of wild deer for both pet food and human consumption. These legislation changes were passed only around one month ago. This decision has opened up commercial opportunities for those who want to make a transition to a professional shooter or landholders who are looking to control deer numbers and make a passive income. In short this is a “real game changer” and a win win for both harvesters and landholders. WILD Game Resources Australia have been approved by the Vic Govt to develop a model that ensures the professionalism, integrity and quality of the entire collection system. Our group has had the privilege to be a part of this consultation process which will ultimately develop the best model for both harvesters and landholders.

At a local level, we continue to hold events around Deer and this past year we hosted Dave Forsyth an eminent researcher who has looked at methods of managing deer.

We have also purchased some No Hunting Signs for our local community which are available here today.

We continue to monitor opportunities to be involved in this space with the ultimate aim of making a difference to our community and to that end, I have been involved in some local projects such as the Hunting Tourism Initiative led by the Towong Shire Council and spoken at various other venues around the opportunities that exist for commercial businesses around deer and hunting. June. Its been a busy but productive year.