The first phase of the Managing Established Pest Animals and Weeds (MEPAAW) project has been completed with 11 regional workshops held across NSW.

Landcare NSW has been engaged by NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) to facilitate the delivery of workshops and activities aimed at increasing landholder uptake of best practice management of invasive species.

These workshops saw 157 participants from Landcare organisations, Local Land Services, NSW DPI, local weeds control authorities and others working collaboratively to develop and prioritise weed and pest animal training and extension projects to meet the needs of their region.

From the regional workshops a prioritised list of pest animal and weed activities has been collated and some state-wide issues and potential programs identified.

Landcare organisations who are members of Landcare NSW and participated in the planning phase of the project, and LLCI host organisations have been invited to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) to deliver activities identified as priorities for their region.

Collaboration between neighbouring Landcare organisations and other partners has been strongly encouraged.

Sixty EOIs have been received from across all of the 11 regions. These EOIs have been reviewed against the priority activities from the regional workshops.

Project agreements are currently being negotiated between Landcare NSW and the Landcare organisations for the delivery of the agreed outputs.

The timeframe for delivery is tight so there will be many interesting weed and pest animal activities happening across NSW in the next couple of months – keep an eye out in your area!

This project provides an opportunity to build partnerships between Landcare, land managers, government agencies and local government to improve the delivery of collaborative management actions targeting established pest animals and widespread weeds across NSW.

This project is managed by Landcare NSW, and is conducted under the auspices of the Joint Management Committee of Local Land Services and Landcare NSW.

This project is supported by the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Landcare NSW through funding received from the Established Pest Animals and Weeds initiative, part of the Australian Government’s Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper, the government’s plan for stronger farmers and a stronger economy.

.