Landscape Rehydration workshops in Northern NSW

Peter and Sam explaining landscape patterns to particpants at the Roseberry Creek workshop.

During the final week of February, Sam Skeat and Peter Hazell travelled to northern NSW to conduct landscape rehydration workshops for the Roseberry Creek Landcare Group in the Richmond valley near Kyogle, and for the Swan Vale Landcare Group near Inverell.

Both these groups expressed concerns that the chronic erosion of their waterways was at the heart of their problems with water retention and availability, which was affecting their agriculture and the natural environment. 

Despite having received some decent rain since the serious drought of 2019, both groups reported that there was still very little available water. As we so often hear, ‘a big storm might dump 50 -100mm of rain in the catchment and the next day it is dry again. There doesn’t appear to be any moisture retention.’

Sam and Peter discussed the fundamentals of landscape rehydration and illustrated some of the strategies a landholder or a catchment group could use to rehydrate their landscape. While Mulloon could most certainly help in the task of landscape rehydration, it was emphasised that it is up to the communities themselves to set the vision. A vision of a rehydrated landscape that benefits agriculture, the environment and the lives of those who live there, put’s the community in the driver’s seat when organising the actions required to achieve transformative change in their catchments.

Thank you to the Roseberry and Swan Vale Landcare Groups for organising these workshops and for your wonderful hospitality. Thanks also to the network organisations, Border Ranges Richmond Valley Landcare Network (BRRVLN) and the Gwydir MacIntyre Resources Management Committee (GWYMAC) for supporting these Landcare Group initiatives.

Sam Skeat listening to questions and observing at Swan Vale workshop.