eNews #9

• 13th May - May Member Muster (Uralla)
• 14th May - Boots on Ground Day (Wongwibinda)
• 20th May to 20 June - Regenerating Rural Landscapes - Online Workshop Series
• 11th June - Click with Confidence - Armidale

Local landholders have been taking part in a fully funded landscape rehydration program focussed on practical, on-farm approaches to improving water cycles, managing erosion, and building long-term landscape resilience.

A Field Day on 19 February 2026 and a two-day Boot Camp on 18-19 March 2026 were well attended, informative and enjoyable, with participants learning how to read their landscape, understand water movement, and identify priority areas for action.

The program concludes with a Boots on Ground Day on 14 May 2026.

Southern New England Landcare CEO, Karen Zirkler, said this will be an equally interesting and practical day.

“Participants will see techniques such as rock and brush structures, and gully head cut stabilisation used, as well as participate in more hands-on learning,” said Karen.

“It will be a great opportunity to see the ideas learned applied on the ground,” she said.

Peter Garrett AM has been announced as the new chair of the Landcare Australia Board, with Doug Humann AM stepping down after a 9-year tenure.

Peter is well known as an environmentalist, musician and former national Environment Minister.

He has been a long-time campaigner on a range of local and global issues, advocating for stronger laws to protect biodiversity, addressing the climate emergency, and supporting land conservation initiatives, Indigenous rights and reconciliation.

Have you tried to get planning approval for works to protect or rehabilitate your riverbank from flooding?

As part of the Riverbank Rehabilitation Project, Local Land Services is undertaking work to better understand the challenges landholders experience when seeking approvals for waterways and riverbank works across NSW.

This project includes an anonymous survey to capture insights on the time, cost, effort and approval processes landholders navigate when undertaking riverbank rehabilitation works, and to identify where improvements could be made to better support landholders in the future.

Gordon Williams volunteered this article for SNEL just prior to the height of the 2019 drought regarding his experience over the years around managing ‘Eastlake’ proactively to navigate drought conditions.