Elingamite Cobrico Landcare Group celebrated 15-years of tackling land management issues this year. The group, which has focused on salinity management, direct seed trials, weed control, and revegetation, celebrated their achievements by hosting a community planting, celebration dinner, and bus-trip.
On the 22nd of July 1991 the Elingamite-Cobrico Landcare Group Inc was officially formed to try to control salinity problems in the area. Fifteen years later the group is still going strong and seeking to stay active in Landcare.
To celebrate the wonderful achievement of fifteen active years as a group a celebratory dinner was held on the 28th of April 2006. The celebrations began in the afternoon with a bus tour of the area looking at some of the many projects completed by the group. These included tree plantings, field day demonstration sites and salinity trial sites. The Corangamite Shire Mayor, Councillor Geoff Smith, to commemorate the event, planted a Manna Gum at Lake Elingamite. A Corangamite Shire Environment Support Fund Grant enabled the group to cover some of the expenses of the day, plus purchase five new tree planters. A further 2000 trees were also planted on Cobden-Warrnambool Rd in September.
Back at the celebrations venue, a very informative and extensive display was on view with photographs, maps, charts and memorabilia that the group have collected over the years. Limericks and paintings by local school children were also on display. During the dinner, guest speaker Denise Burrell gave an extremely interesting talk about her work with Indonesian Dairy Farmers. The official events concluded with the cutting of the ‘Anniversary Cake’.
The group has been actively involved in monitoring water table levels in the area, erosion control, education and awareness raising activities such as field days, surveys, information displays, seminars and conferences as well as a great deal of tree planting and protection of remnant vegetation. Of these, the group feels that education and raising awareness within the local community has been their greatest achievement, with Landcare now being widely accepted by the community.
One of the groups’ largest activities was involvement with a Parks Victoria 60,000 trees project on the Lake Elingamite frontage. This project is part of a “Rail Trail to Mt Emu Creek” indigenous tree corridor, via Lake Elingamite and Lake Cobrico – a distance of about 12 kms. The trees were planted over three days with the help of Tranceplant and Greencorp.
Other significant works completed by the group include two covenants; Spring Hill Creek/Ewans Hill Creek Project – funded by Waterways Grants from GHCMA; a nine acre unused lane adjoining Lake Cobrico leased by a member for conservation purposes and planted with 7,000 trees plus a direct seeded section; and a badly salt affected area formed into parallel drains and mounds and planted with salt resistant trees (privately funded).
To the Elingamite-Cobrico Landcare Group Inc, Congratulations on your achievements over 15 years.
Thanks to Brenton Bartsch from Glenelg-Hopkins CMA for this article.
View pictures in photo album.