Property Planning for Biodiversity Benefits

With Nature Conservation Margaret River Region

Join us for a practical, full-day session designed to help you step back, look at your property as a whole and decide where your time, effort and resources can have the greatest positive impact on your land’s biodiversity.

When you look across your property, do you see the patch of remnant bushland that’s looking a bit bare, that windy paddock that the livestock tend to avoid, or a creekline with more erosion gullies than frog habitat…?

If you do, and you want a solution that boosts biodiversity (and can have genuine farm benefits too), this may be the workshop you’ve been waiting for.

Remnant vegetation, waterways and well-placed shelterbelts can provide habitat and movement corridors for wildlife and pollinators, and link isolated patches of bush across the landscape, while also delivering real on-farm benefits.

Knowing you want to improve biodiversity is one thing. Knowing where to begin and what will make the greatest difference, is another. During this workshop we’ll learn how to look at remnant bush and waterways and assess their condition, understand why healthy remnant bush, shelterbelts and waterways matter (not just for biodiversity but for the farm itself), and identify common weeds and threats encroaching on our bushland.

Property Planning for Biodiversity Benefits is a practical, full-day session hosted by Cass Jury, Program Manager and Biodiversity Officer from Nature Conservation Margaret River Region (NCMRR). The day is designed to help you step back, look at your property as a whole and decide where your time, effort and resources can have the greatest impact.

This is the second in our On Farm Biodiversity series; a program of intentionally interconnected workshops that build on ideas around boosting the biodiversity value of remnant bush, connecting corridors and developing shelterbelts – while also standing alone as a complete and practical learning experience. Together, the series is designed to support landholders to move from understanding biodiversity and shelter belt concepts through to apploying them in a property specific context.

Participants will work with maps of their own properties (we will print these in A1 size ready for the session) to begin developing a clear biodiversity plan, identifying priority areas and considering what is possible in the short, medium and longer term.

We will also walk through different vegetation areas at Idee Fixe. Using the farm as a practical example, we’ll look at variations in vegetation condition and biodiversity value, discuss how these can be assessed and consider how observations made on the ground can inform property-level decisions.

Who Should Attend?

Remnant vegetation, waterways and well-placed shelterbelts provide habitat and movement corridors for wildlife and pollinators, and link isolated patches of bush across the landscape, while also delivering real on-farm benefits.

This session is particularly suited to people managing larger properties who want to take a more strategic approach to biodiversity. You may already have completed some work or attended previous events and be ready to bring those ideas together into a clearer, more focused plan. But that doesn’t rule out those with a smaller block and an interest in our local biodiversity management options. Even if you don’t have a larger block now, there could be one lurking in your future!

What We’ll Cover

• Assessing vegetation and waterway condition
• The functions of remnant vegetation and waterways
• Identifying environmental weeds
• Guidance on where to begin, including shelterbelt establishment and revegetation using locally appropriate native species
• Want a practical approach to developing biodiversity on your land

Event Logistics

Date: Thursday 17 September
Time: 9.45am – 2.30pm
Location: Idee Fixee, Cnr Bussell Highway and Darch Road, Margaret River

Morning tea and lunch will be provided.

Tickets

Full day (morning tea and lunch included): $20

BOOK YOUR TICKET TODAY!

About Cass Jury

Guiding us through the day will be Cass Jury, Program Manager and Biodiversity Officer with Nature Conservation Margaret River Region.

Cass brings more than 20 years of experience in environmental management, with particular expertise in assessing, protecting and restoring the region’s waterways, bushland and habitat. She coordinates biodiversity assessments for local landholders, helping them better understand what is growing and living on their properties, recognise areas of particular value and identify realistic priorities for action.

A former coordinator of the Cape to Cape Catchments Group, now Nature Conservation Margaret River Region, Cass has also authored action plans for the Boodjidup, Wilyabrup and Quinninup river systems. Her extensive knowledge of the Capes landscape is matched by a practical understanding of property management. Cass knows that protecting biodiversity is not about tackling everything at once, but about understanding what you have, deciding where your efforts will make the greatest difference and developing a plan that is both achievable and sustainable.

This workshop forms part of the Lower Blackwood LCDC Enhancing Farm Biodiversity project, supported by funding from the Western Australian Government’s State NRM Program.