A Word from the RALF (May 2023) Soil is one of the most important resources on our planet, yet it is often taken for granted. Soil is a complex mixture of minerals, organic matter, water and air, and plays a crucial role in supporting life on Earth. Healthy soil is essential for growing crops, sustaining…
Close 1 May 2025 The Murrumbidgee Field Naturalists (MFN) are calling for applications for their 2025 Environmental Fund Grants. Grants of up to $5,000 will be considered to assist with conservation in general, environmental education, increasing biodiversity or enhancing the understanding of the natural environment within the Murrumbidgee Valley. MFN are a local organisation with…
Young people from three unique townships within the Murrumbidgee Council area have created this book over the last twelve months. Students from Darlington Point, Coleambally and Jerilderie connected with community members to increase their knowledge of their local area and build a higher level of appreciation for the place in which they live. The youth…
A Word from the RALF (April 2023) The Plains Wanderer is a small bird species that is native to Australia. These birds are highly specialised and unique, as they are the only representative of their family group in Australia. Unfortunately, the Plains Wanderer population has been declining rapidly due to habitat loss and fragmentation. The…
Produced by the Australian Platypus Conservancy, 9 pages. On 9 February 2023, the Murrumbidgee Field Naturalists had a great webinar on Rakali (Australian Water-rat) with Geoff Williams from the Australian Platypus Conservancy. Rakali have had a bit of a bad rap over time, probably because of its name ‘rat’ rather than ‘otter’ which would better…
Background Time in nature can provide many benefits to young people and can positively influence their mental health. However it has been found that adolescents typically spend far less time in nature than either younger children or adults. In parallel, emerging research has noted the conflicting impacts from the benefits of connecting with nature and…
Together with the Biodiversity Conservation Trust, Murrumbidgee Landcare recently held a BioBlitz with students from Yanco Public School. The children learnt about native birds, vegetation, habitat and other fauna in and around the wetland located near the school. This field day was funded through the “Partnering in Private Land Conservation” project, funded by the…
Revegetation Expressions of Interest – Now Closed The Landcare-Led Resilience Project sought expressions of interest to establish approximately 16 revegetation sites over the 2023/2024 period. These sites contribute to demonstrating techniques to make revegetation more resilient to climate challenges and improve farm business resilience. Techniques explored include varying site preparation methods, planting densities, species mixes,…
Stock can cause pugging of dam banks, destroy vegetation through trampling, rubbing and chewing, and decrease the water quality in the dam from their urine and faecal contamination. Constant stock access can also significantly exacerbate soil erosion of dams and surrounding creek-lines. This can adversely affect water quality at a much larger spatial scale. A…
While the role of women in agriculture is steadily evolving, women are still significantly underrepresented and continue to be undervalued in positions of rural leadership and decision making. An unconscious bias exists as a simple Google search for ‘Australian farmer’ delivers 80-90% of images with men only. Funded by the National Landcare Program ‘Smart Farms…