Land/Water Care & Bushcare

LANDCARE is a community-based approach to managing and restoring our environment, and improving the sustainability of our agricultural activities. The Hawkesbury area has been involved in landcare for many years with locals forming groups to tackle weeds on their properties. Problems such as noxious and environmental weeds, lack of knowledge of ecosystem principles, dealing with fire, creekbank erosion, and feral animals such as rabbits and deer all needed collaborative methods and landscape-style group work. Hawkesbury Rainforest Network and Hawkesbury Young Landcare formed during the early years. Hawkesbury Environment Network (HEN) is also a registered landcare group. Other landcare groups in the region include

Willow Warriors
Clark Island Landcare
Hawkesbury Campus Remnant Landcare Group
Colo Valley Landcare
Mt Wilson Bushcare Group
Australiana Village Landcare
The Valley Centre Landcare
Maroota Landcare Group
South Maroota Bushcare Group
Windsor to Weir Landcare
Crescent Reach Bushcare Group
Colo High School Landcare
McDonald Valley Association
Scheyville Community Group

Current HEN landcare operations include the Cat’s Claw Creeper Control project in Grose Vale-Kurrajong, and Green Army projects due to begin in early 2015 across a range of sites from Yellomundee to Richmond, Redbank Creek and Kurrajong.

More information here:

http://www.landcarensw.org.au/about-landcare.php

NSW Landcare Gateway http://www.landcare.nsw.gov.au/

STREAMWATCH groups also grew out of the interest of locals in their local streams and water quality. Streamwatch began in 1990. There have been over 250 community, school and other groups that monitor water quality and macroinvertebrates (water bugs) across more than 600 sites. Streamwatch is closely connected with NSW Waterwatch. Streamwatch groups investigate and take action on water quality and catchment and ecosystem health.

More information at http://www.streamwatch.org.au/cms/about_streamwatch/

Groups and data can be accessed at http://www.streamwatch.org.au/streamwatch/flow/anon/k/_c6E599F58-D5D3-B5FC-B361-FF3939EA882D_k4AA146B4-67BE-9E98-FC88-02A855E125CE

BUSHCARE

Bushcare is about groups of volunteers working to restore the natural environment in urban and coastal areas across Australia. Usually these are managed and assisted by the relevant government agencies such as local councils. However, some operate under landcare arrangements as well. Bushcare is a national movement which started in the suburbs of Sydney in the 1980s. This environmental volunteer work (sometimes called Urban Landcare) occurs mostly on public land: in bushland, wetlands and around waterways managed by local councils or NSW government agencies. Environmental volunteering programs such as Bushcare have steadily grown since their inception and are now an accepted and successful partnership between many government land management organisations and community members.

Hawkesbury Council Bushcare program can be accessed here http://www.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au/environment/natural-environment2/bushcare

Greater Sydney Local Land Services now has a map of Bushcare and Landcare Groups https://trade.maps.arcgis.com/apps/OnePane/basicviewer/index.html?appid=40a976c257f1490ca5ca7483438b3861#

View Landcare NSW Gateway in a larger map

BUSHCARE: http://www.bushcare.org.au/