ANU Environmental Science Field School
Flooding on the floodplains! With the farm inundated from the highest rainfall ever recorded in the catchment and the farm flooded out, this year ANU Environmental Science Field School invited the Mulloon Institute on-campus for a critical thinking workshop. Using the Mulloon Rehydration Initiative* as a case study, students road-tested their understanding of the complexities surrounding how we can rehydrate landscapes that support communities, economies and the environment.
Prompted by only one photograph of an eroded creek in the Mulloon catchment by TMI's Research Coordinator Luke Peel, Dr David Freudenberger moved students through a series of peer-led discussions on solutions with the assistance of Hon Associate Professor Peter Taylor and Dr Richard Thackway as our stand-in bureaucrats and landholders and Helen King (PhD candidate Fenner School) as mentor.
Initially divided into small teams, then merging into larger groups for a peer-review process, students shared their insights to the larger cohort. Common themes emerged as a natural consequence of this collective rapid knowledge gathering, highlighting the adaptive management qualities required of natural resource managers that extend beyond environmental solutions. Students identified a diversity of stakeholders, each with their own requirements around levels of engagement – from traditional custodians, landholders, researchers, through to decision-makers and the public in the effort to restore the land.
Brainstorming in groups
Reflecting on the participatory nature of the workshop that was full of optimism and collective heart felt desires to repair the land, Luke Peel reminded them of the role the Mulloon Institute and agriculture can play in mitigating the current climate challenges while balancing this with providing food and fibre for the nation.
“Farming is part of the solution. 75% of Australia's land is used for agriculture and in that, regenerative agriculture is part of the answer. In understanding this connection, every time you eat or drink, you should thank a farmer". Luke Peel, Research Coordinator
TMI's Education Coordinator Tam Connor shared an uplifting story of stakeholder engagement through a community of people in the Capertee Valley with all levels of knowledge and background in regenerative practices. Having come together with a common ambition, they were each seeking holistic social and environmental solutions to repair land in their area.
ANU’s Shoshana Rapley (Fenner School PhD candidate) provided an overview of Mulligan’s Flat Woodland Sanctuary as Australia’s largest single Box-gum Grassy-woodland area managed for conservation. With the area actively managed to keep introduced species, particularly predatory species, out. Shoshana also provided a bigger picture view that there is hope for Australia’s native flora and fauna by involving scientists and the broader community to work together using effective communication to engage people at all levels and provide hope for threatened ecosystems.
In eloquently summarising the workshop, Peter Taylor spoke on the role fear plays in resistance to change by people of all persuasions.
“The goal is to build trust and at the core of this – hope”. Peter Taylor, ANU Hon Associate Professor
* The Mulloon Rehydration Initiative is jointly funded through the Mulloon Institute and the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program. The initiative is also assisted by the NSW Government through its Environmental Trust.
