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The Burnett Mary NRM Awards On the 7th of October 2009 in Kingaroy, the Burnett Mary Regional Group held an
awards night to recognize achievement in natural resource management over the
past year in the Burnett Mary region. These awards coincided with the Better Catchments & Healthy Habitats - A Showcase held on the 7th and 8th of October.
The Award Winners for 2009:
Awards for Individuals
Awards for Organisations
2008 Award Winners Announced
Click below to find out the finalists and the winner for each award category.
Winners proudly show their awards
Environmental School Award An award for a school that has undertaken environmental programs or activities
that have successfully enhanced students understanding and awareness of environmental
issues.
Finalists
Gympie East State School
In 2008 the School’s environmental activities have enjoyed the support of their
enthusiastic new principal. The School has redesigned its gardens along permaculture
principles, installed water reducing toilets and rainwater tanks, conducted energy
audits, and reintroduced "Zero-Waste" lunchboxes. The School has reduced its
carbon footprint by choosing not to participate in interschool activities which
requiring bus trips, and instead offers fun activities on Friday afternoons. It
participates in the Reef Guardian program, makes paper bricks for the Habitat
for Humanity project, and is the first in the region to be registered as a solar
school.
Wondai State School
The School had adopted the innovative Future Earth philosophy where sustainable
living is something that students do, rather than learn. Students have planned
and grown a community permaculture garden, and produced digital animations to
help understand global warming. It has developed a sustainability action plan,
constructed a mud brick classroom and outdoor cob oven, and organised the inaugural
Funky Futures Festival which incorporates hands on workshops.
Kalkie State School
Kalkie is a Reef Guardian school and has stencilled all of the nearby drains
that lead to the reef with eye catching messages. It conserves power through
the “Go Green! Flick the Switch” campaign, collects rubbish at the school and
on beach excursions, has designed a compost garden with down pipes from guttering
of rooves, and tiled a dusty outdoor area with recycled tiles. Students have
also saved water by installing “Aquaclics on taps throughout the school.
Tin Can Bay State School
As the Schools grounds consist of remnant wallum vegetation, its focus is not
on repair the environment, but on planning and preservation, so these natural
assets are sustainably managed . In 2008 the school has undertaken two major environmental
projects. The Bush Learning project includes establishing a walking trail and
interpretive signage, and promotes indigenous local knowledge. The Melaleuca
Wetland Conservation project involves the installation of two 20,000 gallon underground
water tanks to harvest rain water and reduce concentrated flow into the wetlands. It includes weed removal, revegetation with local wetland species. The School
has also registered as a Land For Wildlife property.
AND THE WINNER IS WONDAI STATE SCHOOL
An award to a Community Group who has excelled in:
Finalists
Noosa and District Landcare Group
This Group conducts and manages stand alone projects and engage in joint ventures,
achieving long term ecological benefits. It engages the community, Local, State
and Federal government departments and other agencies It recognizes the need
to deliver outcomes based on the four pillars of sustainability; economic sustainability,
ecological sustainability, social sustainability and cultural sustainability.
Lake Baroon Catchment Care Group
Since its inception in 1992, the Group has undertaken on-ground works to the
value of more than $530,000, including more than 100 projects. These have included
fencing off and revegetating many kilometres of stream, providing offstream watering
systems, stream crossings and hardened laneways, all of which ensure that stock
stay out of stream beds, thus protecting the bed, banks, riparian habitat and
stream health in general, as well as improving water quality.
The success of the Group can be attributed to the professionalism and commitment
of the staff and committee; and the contribution of many in the community, including
volunteer committee members, other like-minded groups, landowners who have taken
part in the projects, local government officers and politicians.
Silver Lining Foundation – Iron Bark Ridge Services
The Foundation has trained a local indigenous workforce in Best Management Practices
for forestry, re-vegetation, propagation and general land management. They successfully
established 2.5ha of native trees, a small bush tucker plantation, re-vegetated
one hectare of the riparian zone of Barambah Creek and fenced sensitive areas
on the property. It resulted in local Indigenous people obtaining expertise to
secure further employment and advancement opportunities.
Burnett Catchment Care Association
Over the past 18 months the Association has helped to identify and highlight
areas of concern in the Burnett Catchment. It has supported the “Better Burnett”
pilot program with over 40 on ground projects. It has developed a number of new
ways to work with landowners, has produced video case studies, Better Burnett
web page and utilising the latest internet technology “feed burner”. It believes
in delivering projects that enrich the catchment for current an future generations.
AND THE WINNER IS NOOSA AND DISTRICT LANDCARE GROUP
This award is in recognition of an organization that has implemented a project
that has achieved outstanding on-ground outcomes; has been well managed and reported;
and successfully communicated to the community.
Finalists
South Burnett Regional Council for their Integrated NRM project
The Integrated NRM project supported landholders, community groups, schools,
Local Governments and industry. Onground works included biodiversity protection
and enhancement, threaten species protection, environmental weed control, riparian
protection, and grazing land management. Landholders across the six shires where
encouraged to apply for small grant funds, and 100% of the works were completed.
The project has lead to the development of good partnerships for future programs.
Burnett Catchment Care Association for their Better Burnett project
Since the inception of Better Burnett in 2007, approximately 34,00ha of grazing
land has been enhanced, 68 kms of stream banks have been improved and 101 watering
points have been installed in the Burnett Catchment region. Most projects undertaken
by landholders were well managed and were completed on time and on budget. With
direct active links from their website, the Association has effectively communicated
to the public the successful outcomes of the projects.
South East Burnett Landcare for their Sustainable Farming, Sustainable Communities
project
The project aimed to improve the sustainability of farming systems. The Group
held 7 extremely successful field days covering topics such as Soil Health, Drought
– a biological approach, Grazing Land Management, Vegetation Management, Keyline
Farming, On Farm Composting, Farming in the Future and Soil Analysis . Nearly
600 farmers attend the workshops, proving their interest in relevant information
and options on how to improve the long term sustainability of their businesses,
and the natural resources of their land, in a practical setting.
Growcom for their Farm Management Systems Improvement Project
Over the past 12 months, Growcom has assisted land holders to implement more
sustainable farming practices by delivering financial incentive schemes to construct
sediment traps, re-vegetate saline effected land, use crop mulch, adopt more efficient
systems for distribution of water and fertilizer, and trial organic fertilizer
in crop production. This has led to reduced sediment and potentially fertilizers
and chemicals reaching our regions waterways, lower rates of chemical fertilizers
being used, a reduction in the loss of productive top soil and better utilization
of our limited water resource.
AND THE WINNER IS BURNETT CATCHMENT CARE ASSOCIATION FOR THEIR BETTER BURNETT
PROJECT
An award to an individual who has implemented successful land & water management
practices in conjunction with a property management plan. Activities such as implementation
of a weed and pest management plan, the control of broadscale weeds, improved
sustainable farming practices are also eligible for this award.
Finalists
Adrian Van Boven
Adrian is the General Manager of Hinkler Park Macadamia Farm He is an industry
leader in innovation and natural resource management practices. He has recently
been involved with the "Friends of Splitters Creek" and Landcare in the revegatation
of the creek line, introduction of the owl boxes to the region, the Area Wide
Integrated Pest management project, and has been a driving force in both AgSip
05 and AgSip 16 projects.
Noel Corbett
Noel Corbett is a proactive landholder implementing new innovative farming techniques
to combat localised salinity on his property, located in the Crawford area. He
has established trials of “old man saltbush” and has a saltbush propagation program. He successfully fattens large cattle uses the saltbush as part of his operation.
His on-going commitment and enthusiasm has been shared with the community as he
has hosted several field days, shared his project results with other landholders
in the Gordonbrook Catchment.
Michael & Lorraine Langley
Michael and Lorraine are proactive landholders implementing onground sustainable
land management practices to address salinity, manage pastures and natural resource
assets to assist with their successful cattle enterprise. They have used funding
to assist in the development of cell grazing centres, farm forestry plantations
in recharge areas, established saltbush and salt tolerant grasses in salt scalds,
contour bank stablisation, soil and gully erosion. Langleys are local rural leaders
and highly committed to ensuring their efforts are benefiting the land for the
future.
Dean & Tracy Rockemer
Dean & Tracy always endeavour to consider all aspects of their business and
farm when researching and implementing a new project. They have taken a run down
lucerne farm and improved production whilst always keeping in mind the importance
of the footprint that they are leaving behind and the environment surrounding
them. They have conducted a subsurface drip irrigation project, used composting
instead of Urea based fertiliser, split paddocks and using rotational grazing
to improve land condition and productivity, fenced off riparian areas and trialled
cats claw creeper bug along creek banks. As land managers they are constantly
looking for a better and more environmentally friendly way to run their business
whilst also improving production.
AND THE WINNER IS DEAN & TRACY ROCKEMER
An award for an individual who has contributed to the development of other professionals,
youth, and/or the community, in the field of natural resource management.
Finalists
Peter Hockings
Peter works for the horticulture industry and is behind a project to demonstrate
significant water savings. This is done through a schools competition, water
audits and seminars designed to raise awareness, change behaviour and communicate
the benefits to the community. Peter has single-handedly steered the project
and kept interested parties and co-operators informed and motivated. He been able
to keep people focused on the issues over a relatively long period and finished
the project with a great result, both in water and money savings.
Dean Power
Dean has been a great mentor and role model for the staff working at the Burnett
Catchment Care Association. He supports their professional development by encouraging
them to think about the project at hand, what tools they could use and what opportunities
they could make. He is not critical of staff, but encourages them to be realistic.
Dr Ashley Bunce
Ashley has recently stimulated and challenged 2 post doctoral students to successfully
complete research projects. These involved shorebird conservation, threatened
species management, estuary rehabilitation and coral reef community mapping. In
most of his projects, local communities were involved in restoration and conservation
practices, leading to fruitful interactive communication and cooperation. Ashley
has been a stimulating source of creativity, keeping his staff and local communities
in touch with “hands on” projects and resource management.
Judith Renshaw
Judith has a strong commitment to the environment and community. Judith has
mentored professionals at all levels of government from technical staff through
to elected members and community leaders. Judith guides her colleagues in a gentle
and confident manner, ensuring they have a real understanding of what the future
goals of natural resource management should be. She has managed to achieve outstanding
results by inducting and mentoring new recruits, and continues to mentor and share
her knowledge with them throughout the life of a project.
AND THE WINNER IS DR ASHLEY BUNCE
In recognition of an individual who has made a significant contribution as a
volunteer in the undertaking of natural resource management related activities.
Finalists
Robyn Bailey Robyn expressed an interest in learning about Seagrass Watch in late 2004, when
the program in the Great Sandy Strait was about to collapse. By March, 2005, showing
remarkable enthusiasm she was able to identify grasses, assess percentage cover
and record data. She took it upon herself to formulate a program for monitoring
at eighteen sites, and with the help (and boat) of husband Paul made Reef Islands
and Brown's Gutter accessible, also Kauri Creek and Boonooroo sites.
In addition to the field work, she also collates the data collected, titles and
burns to disc all photographs taken, all this with a full time job and two school
children.
Diane Anderson
Diane has been volunteering with the Environmental Protection Agency since 2004.
She is an outstanding and enthusiastic volunteer who dedicates many hours working
for turtle and marine conservation, both during and outside of the turtle breeding
season. She is a Beach Assistant at the Mon Repos Conservation Park Turtle Information
Centre, greeting, serving and educating the tourist groups, including kid’s activities,
turtle research and guiding of groups while on the beach. She also works on nightly
basis at the Oaks Beach, carrying out research on both nesting and hatchling turtles
and also talks to visitors to this beach.
Jim and Annie Buck
Jim and Annie both work full time for Queensland Government. In their spare time
they work on the Lady Musgrave Island Turtle Monitoring project, part of the Queensland
Turtle Conservation Project. Whilst at Lady Musgrave they are also volunteer Campground
Hosts. Many weekends, weeknights, and his annual leave are consumed with some
component of the monitoring project. Whether it’s ‘on-site’ monitoring, data management,
writing reports, organising volunteers, equipment maintenance, or managing funding,
their “hobby” has over the years, developed into almost a second full time job.
Jenny Adamson
Jenny is the treasurer of the Cooloola Coastcare Association. Jenny has financially
managed 11 funded projects since December 2006, while managing the salaries, superannuation,
workcover of one permanent part-time project coordinator and over six casual project
officers and labourers. In dollar terms this has amounted to over $223,000. Jenny is also a grandmother and the treasurer of the schools P&C.
AND THE WINNER IS JIM AND ANNIE BUCK
Recognition for an individual who has achieved outstanding on-ground outcomes
that have greatly improved or protected significant ecological areas and/or communities.
Activities such as the protection of significant flora and fauna species, weed
control in areas of biodiversity significance, and riparian restoration activities
are also eligible for this award.
Finalists
Michael Johnson (Smith's Crossing Cat's Claw Control Project)
Michael Johnson is determined to remove cat's claw vine from old growth rainforest
trees along the banks of the Kolan River at Smith's Crossing. He is restoring
the area to how he remembers it in his childhood.. With loppers, secateurs, crowbar
and chemical bottle on hand, Michael has worked tirelessly for over two years
because he believes the big old trees deserve better and so does the wildlife
that is slowly starting to return now that the trees can flower and set fruit.
Litherland family (Greg, Lois, Shane and Lenore)
Several years, the family bought several adjoining blocks of land in the Mothar
Mountain area years ago. They are now in the process of establishing a Nature
Refuge on about 100 acres of old growth vineforest. They have made up a detailed
and complex property management plan, recognizing different forest types and condition
and areas to be protected. The family have been a source of inspiration for
all the landholders in the Conservation Partnerships Program through their efforts
and enthusiasm.
AND THE WINNER IS THE LITHERLAND FAMILY |
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Environmental School Award
© 2005-2010 Burnett Mary Regional Group for Natural Resource Management Inc |