24 November 2017: The boards of the NLN and Landcare Australia met in Canberra on 23rd November to re-affirm their commitment to move forward with the formation of a new national Landcare organisation. They agreed on the next steps to make this happen, with the due diligence to be completed by Christmas and the new entity to be established before the end of this financial year.

Once formed, a new organisation will give the Landcare movement a single national organisation working on its behalf, which will combine and build on the representative capacity and voice of the NLN and the marketing, education, fundraising and program delivery skills of Landcare Australia. Both organisations are committed to doing what is best for community Landcare and recognise that they will have a greater impact together.

06 November 2017 – Cawdor Public School students are getting hands on with nature after they were awarded $5,000 from the South32 Junior Landcare Grants program to go towards a habitat restoration project.

The funding has assisted with the school’s project to enhance and restore the native area that runs along the front fence of the school adjacent to Cawdor Road, and other areas on the property, totalling 64m by 8m. The work includes weeding the area, making a mulch pathway, and improving local biodiversity by replanting local native flora and indigenous bush tucker plants and trees, to make a nature trail.

The nature trail will be used by all students as an outdoor learning area for environmental activities, with teaching programs aimed at developing ecological sustainable learning, crucial for students now and into the future. Students will have the opportunity to engage with the aboriginal community who will impart knowledge about traditional food sources and their other uses.

03 AUGUST 2017 – More than 3,000 students in 25 schools across seven states will soon be donning their gardening gloves and getting stuck into creating their dream gardens thanks to the Yates Junior Landcare Grants for Gardens Program.

Launched in May, the program received a record number of applications, with hundreds of schools submitting creative and exciting ideas for outdoor classrooms and gardens, with hand drawn plans, short films and mood boards.

The funded projects include a number of Indigenous Plant and Cultural projects, including at Yorketown Area School in South Australia, and Gundagi Public School in New South Wales. Sensory spaces and gardens are also a popular choice, with Mannum Community College in South Australia creating a ‘Sensory Wellbeing Garden’, which will be part of an outdoor learning complex. Glengarry Primary School in Western Australia will create an ‘Upcycled Sensory Wonderland’ to include climbing areas, drums, and a sensory pathway around the garden to provide a unique and interactive learning area.

24 JULY 2017 – Over the past 12 months, $100,000 was raised through Landcare Australia’s Workplace Giving Program to provide much needed funds to help address the impact that feral animals, human encroachment, and introduced species have on our country’s soil and waterways, and our native plants and animals.

Workers across Australia at 23 companies such as Telstra, Qantas, and Konica Minolta, recently helped fund 10 habitat restoration projects that are tackling the issue of endangered species.

24 JULY 2017 – Two recently funded volunteer projects tackling the issue of endangered species are enhancing wetland habitat for bird species and protecting remnant vegetation in Western Australia.

Destruction and encroachment of native habitats by humans, feral animals, and introduced plant species has contributed to 161 species now classified as endangered. Thanks to the volunteer efforts of thousands of Australians, there is hope for saving our treasured animals from extinction.