WESTERN Landcare NSW’s inaugural conservation conversation camp took place at Kinchega National Park over the weekend, with around 50 people in attendance.
The free camp invited landholders, land managers and land carers to come together to discuss ways to ensure biodiversity and conservation on properties across the Far West.
Regional Landcare co-ordinator Melanie Gates said she was happy with the turnout.
“We really aimed to have a variety of stakeholders come along and talk about different topics, and that went really well,” she said.
Ms Gates said though conversations covered a broad range of topics from a range of speakers, the main takeaways from the event were about technology that can be used to make things easier for landholders and managers.
“We’re talking about infrared technology in terms of pest management, using drones and binoculars and monoculars,” she said.
“There’s definitely ways landholders can make their lives easier by using this new technology.”
Ms Gates said the discussion around pest management and how intrinsically linked it is with conservation was also a major point of discussion.
“There’s a stigma around pest management and people who do baiting and aerial shoots,” she said.
“So there’s an element of people thinking it’s cruel, but it actually saves our native animals.”
The purpose of the event was to highlight the fact that landholders are the experts when it comes to land management, and that their voices needed to be amplified, Ms Gates said.
“The professionals have the science and the latest research and they bring that to the table, and the landholders implement that,” she said.
“But it’s the landholders that are there every day looking at how the techniques are working. So we want to highlight that West Landcare exists as an advocate for landholders and land managers.”
Ms Gates said sustainable agriculture practices go hand in hand with sustainable community initiatives, so a focus on mental health and bringing together community in nature was a focus.
“We can’t have sustainable agriculture unless we’re sustaining communities,” she said.
“So in that sense, we’re focusing on the mental health aspect of spending time in nature with people around the fire, sharing meals.
“It’s good for us holistically as humans, and with this epidemic of mental health issues globally, we want to focus on how nature can support mental health.”
Ms Gates said the conversations had at the event are ongoing and Western Landcare will be attending a Western Local Land Services Strategic plan in July, where they’ll continue conversations had by local landholders and managers.
“We’ll attempt to align with them in terms of ways to move forward,” she said.
