Welcome to the new NGT blogs!

It is hard to believe, but it is now almost 4.5 years since NGT launched in January 2012. We started with just three staff (myself, Cath Dickson and Nick Whiterod) and since day 1, we’ve been fortunate to have a great, functional website (generously set up for us by Nat Peek of PixelHarvester) as our way of communicating the evolving story of our little NGO with the outside world.

But after four years of stellar service, the time to upgrade the site finally arrived and thanks again to Nat’s help the new NGT website is now up and running.

With it, we have also finally changed over our blog / newsletter subscription service. So, if you don’t want to hear from us this way again – that is ok, we won’t be offended! – just hit the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of this email newsletter and you’ll be automatically removed from the list.

For everyone else, we promise you’ll enjoy hearing the latest news about the broad range of NGT activities happening across our biodiverse little corner of south-eastern Australia. And before I sign off, perhaps take the time to introduce yourself to the fantastic bunch of people that comprise the NGT team today – as you’ll see, things sure have evolved since this journey began!

Stick with us, as some very exciting new initiatives are just around the corner.

Cheers – Mark.

Our coastal Karst Rising Springs are in the spotlight this May!

Upcoming Eaglehawk Planting Festival – Saturday the 18th June

We’d like to invite you to join us at our upcoming planting festival on Saturday 18 June.

Eaglehawk Waterhole is a 1700 acre private nature reserve owned and managed by NGT, situated in the border zone of the Upper South East near Frances (SA) and the Little Desert National Park (Vic). The former grazing property will be restored over the years ahead for native wildlife, and we could use your help with this exciting process – starting with our first major planting festival in 2016!

This winter will be the first of two big planting seasons at Eaglehawk as part of our 20 Million Trees project, for which NGT has been supported to plant 15,000 seedlings over 3 years. 20 Million Trees is a federal government programme aiming to support the planting of, you guessed it, 20 million trees and associated understorey plants, by 2020. The total number of seedlings will be comprised of approximately half food plants for South-eastern Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, and half understorey species.

Where’s Robbie? Our favourite bittern is missing in action…

Just in case you haven’t heard the news, it seems that Robbie, the Australasian Bittern that put our wetland restoration project at Long Swamp (in far SW Victoria near Portland) on the map, has disappeared ‘off the radar’…

To see the latest update from the project keeping track of Robbie, please read here:

New Green Drinks event in Port Fairy

One of our south-west Victorian staff, aquatic ecologist Lauren Veale, has started up an exciting new event in Port Fairy. Taking inspiration from a similar event in Warrnambool, Port Fairy Green Drinks is a chance for nature lovers of all kinds to get together for an informal chat, to connect, and to share ideas and inspiration. Events are open to anyone with an interest in the local environment, from bee keepers to bird watchers, canoeists to campers, and gardeners to fish enthusiasts – if you have a passion for nature, head along! Green Drinks will be held once a month, alternating Tuesday and Thursday nights. 

The first event will be held next week Tuesday 17 May, at 7pm, at Ramellas Cafe. Join the Facebook group to keep in the loop (and you can find the Warrnambool group here).

NGT talks about Glenshera Swamp and Lower Murray fish at the SA NRM Science Conference

A few weeks ago, a couple of NGT staff gave presentations at the SA NRM Science Conference in Adelaide.

On the Wednesday afternoon, I gave an overview of the restoration options work that Lachlan and I pulled together for Glenshera Swamp, in Stipiturus Conservation Park (situated on the Fleurieu Peninsula south of Adelaide). It was especially great to catch up with some of the community members who have been so generous with their knowledge and supportive of the project so far, and to begin talking about our hopes of seeing the plan implemented in the near future.

One of the first potential steps shared in the presentation is shown below, which would involve reinstatement of the original meandering creek that formerly discharged into the top of Glenshera Swamp. For more information, the restoration options report can be downloaded here.