Events & presentations
The Mulloon Institute staff have been out and about presenting at various external events over the last two months, helping spread the word and share our story of landscape rehydration and regeneration at Mulloon Creek.
Research Coordinator Luke Peel spoke at this year’s County Women’s Association’s annual Wollondilly Group Agriculture and Environment Day in mid-June. Luke’s presentation on ‘Climate Change: Building Resilience for Significant Farming and Environmental Outcomes’ explored aspects of the large and small water cycle as a key driver of climate change (and hence global warming), and the effect plants have in managing and driving this system and their cooling effect.
Tony Hill addresses the crowd at Bibbaringa
Peter Hazell kept our busy pace going with presentations elsewhere in July. Earlier in the month he was at a forum held at Gillian Sanbrook’s property, Bibbaringa, near Holbrook, called ‘Building Resilience into the Landscape – Earth Canvas Workshop’. The event looked at the landscape through the eyes of a farmer, an artist, a scientist and an educator. The workshop was designed to engage neighbours and catchment areas to manage water in their landscape. It was a wonderful initiative by Gillian and bringing these themes together is truly innovative. Learn more about Earth Canvas here.
Pete also spoke at a grassland reserve in the ACT suburb of Franklin, Gungahlin. Friends of Grasslands (FOG) had been commissioned by the ACT Government to develop a concept plan for this 22ha site which contains some natural temperate grassland and associated threatened species. Two drainage lines through the site enter a dam which contains an eroding spillway before a cut drain takes the overflow off-site. The headwaters are urban and the site is within Sullivan’s Creek watershed. About 30 people attended including several scientific and program people from the ACT Government, FOG people and Gungahlin community members. Two MLA’s were there, Mick Gentleman, ACT Minister for Environment & Heritage, and a local Member, Suzanne Orr.
Friends of the Grasslands members meeting in Franklin
The ACT Government has a reasonable budget for development of the site in accordance with the concept, and later-on, the Masterplan. The budget comes from a development off-set scheme which was recently established by the ACT Government. This is an opportunity for continued TMI involvement both at this site and more broadly throughout Canberra’s nature reserve system. One of the senior people spoke to Peter Hazell after the workshop of the need to train Parks and Conservation staff in more ecologically-based flow dissipation measures. TMI can certainly help there!
[Photos kindly supplied by Friends of Grasslands members Andrew Zelnik and Anne Milligan.]
Friends of the Grasslands members meeting in Franklin