Congrats & thanks

CONGRATULATIONS, KUDOS, AND THANKS

Cradle to Coastlines Reader Survey- thank you and prize winner!

Thank you to all the people who completed our short survey about your experience of the Cradle to Coastlines newsletter. The results and comments have been extremely valuable and will help us ensure the newsletter remains interesting and useful to our readers. Please note that we welcome feedback anytime, so please send your comments or suggestions to hsadler@cradlecoast.com. Congratulation to James from Kindred who was the winner of the $50 voucher for the Tasmanian Produce Collective. The Tasmanian Produce Collective is a collaboration between a group of small-scale farmers and makers in Tasmania. Customers can order directly from the producers, helping support local sustainable food production.

New Cradle Coast NRM Strategy on track

Thank you so much to all the community groups who have sent us comments and suggestions for our new NRM Strategy. It’s not too late if you still want to provide feedback at this stage. Later in the year, a public comment period will be open, and at that point, we’d love to start hearing your ideas for all the ways that we can work together to protect and enhance our priority NRM assets.

One excellent tip we received was from the Central North Field Naturalists, who pointed out that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have now officially recognised fungi as a major component of biodiversity. We should follow suit, and replace references to “plants and animals” with “animals, fungi and plants”. After all, there would be no life on Earth without fungi (not to mention the devastating lack of wine and chocolate).

New orchid identified!

Congratulations to Mark Wapstra and Craig Broadfield for describing a new orchid, Caladenia vulgaris var. nunguensis! The latin name is derived from the close proximity of the type-location to nungu (West Point) on the Cradle Coast. This orchid immediately qualifies to be listed as a critically endangered species under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act Display planter box at 14 days post seeding.1999. A detailed peer-reviewed paper has been published in The Orchadian - the official journal of the Australasian Native Orchid Society Inc., Volume 20, Number 4 - June 2021.

If you are interested in learning more about our local orchids please contact us for a FREE copy of the ‘Beginner’s Guide to the Common Orchids of North West Tasmania’ compiled by Ian Ferris with technical advice and photography by Philip Milner. Copies are available during business hours from the Cradle Coast Authority or by emailing hsadler@cradlecoast.com.

Photos Top: new orchid Caladenia vulgaris var. nunguensis (Photo: Craig Broadfield). Bottom: Spencer and Nick draw the Reader Survey voucher winner out of a hat.

Successful grant will tackle Gorse and Broom from Ridgley to Waratah

Congratulations to Burnie City Council and partners on receiving funding through the latest round of the Tasmanian Government's $5 million Weeds Action Fund.

Burnie City Council has received funding for a highly collaborative project to control Gorse and English Broom across tenures from Ridgley through to Waratah. Council will work with Forico, State Growth, TasRail, private landholders and Waratah-Wynyard Council over the next three years to control these highly invasive weeds on the road and rail corridor.

This project is funded by the Tasmanian Government through the Tasmanian Weeds Action Fund facilitated by NRM North with support from Cradle Coast Authority and NRM South. A list of all the successful WAF projects is available from the DPIPWE website: https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/invasive-species/weeds/tasmanian-weeds-action-fund

Photos: 1. Gorse flowering on a roadside 2. Weed Action Fund project planning with Council Weed and NRM Officers; Phil Hrstich BCC & DCC, Bill Walker WWC & CHC and Sonya Stallbaum CCC.

Redbank Farm a National Landcare Award Winner

Congratulations to Sisters Creek farmer Michael Nichols who won the Australian Government Innovation in Agriculture Award at the recent 2021 National Landcare Awards. Michael employs a mixture of state-of-the-art agricultural practices on his property Redbank Farm and it was his pursuit of precision agricultural techniques to address crop variability and resource use efficiency which saw him win the award.

Read more about the award and the sustainably practices Michael employs from the Landcare Tasmania media release:

https://www.landcaretas.org.au/tassie _ farm _ wi ns _ national _ award2

Photo: Landcare Tasmania; Michael Nichols (centre) Accepts the Award, with Landcare Tasmania's Peter Stronach A/CEO (left) and Director Jonathan Lord (right).