About Landcare NSW

We are the representative body of the Landcare movement in NSW and the voice of community Landcare.

Our Council represents around 60,000 Landcarers and 3000 groups and meets three to four times a year. The organisation is overseen by an eight-member executive and a small team of part-time staff. Our structure enables the building of skills, capacity, strength and connections at every level – from individual groups to district networks, to regional associations to the state peak body, right through to the National Landcare Network in Canberra. Landcare NSW acknowledges and pays respect to Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islander People who are the original owners of the land, seas and water. Landcare NSW recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People’s continuing connection to the land and their deep knowledge of the natural environment.

NSW Landcarers will have the leadership, skills and resources to care for our land, environment and communities.

To support NSW Landcarers in caring for our land, environment and communities.

Collaboration: working in groups and building partnerships
Non-party political representation
Flexibility, adaptability and innovation
Responsiveness to different needs and cultures
Clarity of purpose

History

In 2007 at Myuna Bay, Lake Macquarie, a group of volunteers recognised a need for a unified voice to represent the State’s dedicated community Landcarers and so established Landcare NSW. After months of consultation and planning, an inaugural meeting was held in Sydney and was followed by the first Muster in Tamworth in October 2007. Since then, every two years Landcarers from across the state gather at musters to harness ideas and discuss issues.

What we do

Protect, repair, regenerate, change practice. And, learn, share and connect. Landcarers work across farmland, bushland, parkland, beaches, national parks, rivers, dunes, creeks, Crown land, public land, private land, forests, travelling stock routes. Landcare is a grassroots movement organised into groups and organisations – some are purely voluntary with half a dozen members while others are substantial organisations that employ paid staff and have significant budgets. Collective action is at the heart of our success: Landcare groups organise projects, support volunteers, seek funding and develop partnerships. We have transformed the landscape and are at the forefront of dealing with environmental, agricultural and social challenges facing Australia. Landcare is open, inclusive and welcoming, regardless of age, gender and cultural background. Environmental Activities: Bush regeneration and weed control; revegetation; repairing eroding gullies and stabilising riverbanks; collecting litter; creating and repairing walking tracks; protecting threatened species; stabilising sand dunes, and; working with councils on installing litter traps. Agricultural Activities: Sustainable cropping techniques; local fox and wild dog control programs; drought management programs; safe chemical use and storage; minimising nutrient run-off; building soil carbon; managing climate variability; fencing; managing groundwater and salinity, and; coordinated action among neighbouring landholders to plant corridors for wildlife. Landcarers also participate in workshops, field days, site tours and collaborative learning.

For further information and other documents about Landcare

Research and Reports

Our History

Landcare Finds Its Voice! Notice calling for the First Landcare meeting June 2007
Extract of first Landcare NSW media release 2007
Video of the history of the Landcare movement in Australia

First Landcare NSW Committee: L-R: David Walker, John Dalton, Karen Zirkler, Chris Scott, Rob Dulhunty

The History of Landcare

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