Autumn Landcare Festival series starts

REVEGETATION and property planning form the focus for the first Autumn Moorabool Landcare Festival event happening on Saturday 16 May.

Delivered by the Moorabool Catchment Landcare Group and funded by the Moorabool Wind Farm Community Fund, the festival offers residents chances to learn about their local environment, gain practical skills, and develop deeper connections with their landscape and community.

With the autumn planting season soon to start, the first in the festival’s series of events takes place at the Ballan Library and Community Hub from 10am.

It will feature keynote speakers and activities and is being run in conjunction with Moorabool Shire Council’s annual native plant giveaway happening in the library courtyard.

Groups including Gardens for Wildlife, Landcare, Community Pest Management and Trust for Nature are attending, and residents who have registered will be eligible to collect five free local indigenous plants to enhance biodiversity in their own backyard.

“It’s very exciting to be able to deliver a series of events that focus on the seasonality of our natural environment and to be able to shine a light on the amazing work that so many local groups do,” said Jackson Cass, Landcare coordinator with Moorabool Catchment Landcare Group.

“We hope to connect residents with the many local environmental groups that operate in our area.”

One of two keynote speakers, Koala Clancy Foundation president Janine Duffy said the festival is a great initiative and likely to appeal to residents.

“Whenever I am at public events or just walking in the bush, I get questions from locals about koalas, especially what trees to plant for them,” Clancy said.

“I think our community is really interested in helping wildlife in our region.”

The event on 16 May will also offer a field trip to the Ballan Primary School to check out a native planting that was delivered collaboratively between the school and the Landcare group three years ago.

Attendees will be able to see what a successful revegetation site can look like, the benefits it has to wildlife, and hear from the school about the positive impacts it has had for students.

The Moorabool Landcare Festival is a year-long series of seasonal events designed to inspire, educate and connect the local community around environmental stewardship and sustainable land management.