​What a spectacular location for a tree planting!

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Thanks to the  twenty-one volunteers who planted 250 native plants at beautiful Manna Hill Farm, Carey's Road, West Kentish.

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This concludes our 2024 planting schedule, and we now look forward to the 2025 plantings.

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Another great AGM! ​​

Highlights included:

• the election of a new Committee, inc. Greg Taylor (President), Barbara Alsop (Vice-President), Janet Dunbabin (Secretary), and Geoff Page (Treasurer)

• music by Rose Turtle Ertler

• four inspiring guest speakers: Anne Gilles from the Tasmanian Platypus Conservation Group; Jodie McQueen from Paradise Road Farm; Kristen Lang on MRLC's Life on the Mountain Project; and Laura Wild-Smith and Amanda Padman on their youth/community native plant nursery project

• a delicious and healthy afternoon tea by Klara's Milieu Street Bistro.

 

Full details of the new Committee and the 2023-4 annual reports are available here.

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Our volunteers enjoyed a superb day of planting at Wilmot. We planted 130 shrub and tree seedlings at Robb and Heidi’s lovely property, using beautiful wire cages around corflute guards.

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Ishbel the border collie supervised the work closely!

 

Thanks to all for a great day!​​​​​​

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​A dozen volunteers did some strategically-important work to help protect Mount Roland from invasive weeds.

The weeding bee focused on Montpellier broom growing in bushland areas of the Reserve, not far from Claude Road.  This weed is very persistent, but we’re pleased to report that after more than a decade of annual control, eradication is now a realistic goal.

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Small amounts of other weeds including gorse, English broom and Spanish Heath were identified and controlled using the 'cut and swab' method. 

It was lovely to see new faces at the weeding bee, and all enjoyed a great lunch.

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Find out more about our group's Mount Roland Weeds Project here.​

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Spring is not far away, and we have a lot planned for the next couple of months.

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All events, except for the AGM, are on a Saturday, 10am-12pm, followed by lunch. RSVP is essential.

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Weeding bee - Sat 24 Aug - Montpellier Broom, Mount Roland Regional Reserve.

Tree planting - Sat 7 Sep - Wilmot.

AGM - Sun 15 Sep, in the afternoon - Claude Road Hall.

Tree planting - Sat 21 Sep - Sheffield Road, Sheffield.

Tree planting - Sat 5 Oct - Careys Road, Sheffield.

Weeding bee - Sat 12 Oct - Foxgloves, McCoys Road.

Weeding bee - Sat 9 Nov - Foxgloves, Kings Road.

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Details for each event will be provided here closer to the time.

The Tasmania Wildlife Hospital (TWH) - auspiced by the Forth Valley Vet Clinic - is an exciting new venture to provide veterinary treatment and subsequent rehabilitation for injured wildlife in the north of Tasmania.

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We were thrilled to be a partner in the plantings on the new grounds of the TWH at Forth. MRLC and TWH volunteers numbered 57, with 470 seedlings in the ground, mulched, and watered.

Over sixty people attended our public forum at Claude Road Hall.  Our presenters were:

• Todd Walsh on the Giant Freshwater Crayfish

• Kristen Lang on Mount Roland Land Care's "Life on the Mountain" project.

 

We also heard music from Arcana Rose, and enjoyed afternoon tea courtesy of Klara's Milieu Street Bistro.

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View flier.

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Find out more about our Giant Freshwater Crayfish project and our Life on the Mountain project.

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The Autumn plantings for 2024 began at two organic farms at Lorinna. An inspiring, co-operative venture between Mount Roland Land Care and the Lorinna community. Volunteers, including many young people, planted nearly 400 native seedlings for biodiversity and shelter. Afterwards, the community provided a delicious lunch for all to share.

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Big thanks to all who participated!

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We started 2024 with a couple of fun, educational seed -collecting workshops at a stunningly beautiful property at Erriba.

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The workshops were conducted by Ruth Mollison, who is an experienced and skilled grower of Tasmanian plants. Ruth guided us on a short walk, and then showed us how to prepare and store the seed we collected.

Participants finished the day feeling inspired!

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A huge thank you to Ruth, and our generous hosts, Gail and John.

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Thirty volunteers did some mighty work at our foxglove weeding bee this morning. 

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This is part of a strategic effort to prevent the creep of foxgloves into the Mount Roland Regional Reserve. Our volunteers spent two hours at the top of McCoys Road, just adjacent to the Reserve, and pulled lots and lots of foxglove plants. Local landowners joined the effort.

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We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the Claude Road Hall afterwards, and many good social connections were established.

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The wonderful work of our members has been recognised by Landcare Tasmania with MRLC being awarded the Community Group of the year for 2023!

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Vice President Kylie Tune, and her partner Dr Paul Spillane (also an MRLC member), accepted the award on behalf of the Group at the Triabunna Awards Ceremony. Picture above courtesy of Natasha Mulhall.

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President Tracy Kelly said: “We just go ahead and do what we do, not for the recognition, but for our community and the future of Mount Roland, but it is so lovely to be recognized! Our members and volunteers and our greater community will be thrilled, as am I! Thank you, Kylie and Paul, for being there to receive the award. That must have been very special!”

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More details can be found at Landcare Tas.

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Our 1000 Trees for Kentish in 2023 project finished in a great fashion with a super-enjoyable planting at "Whitehawk Falls" just near Sheffield. The native species put in the ground on this day will greatly assist the stream rehabilitation being undertaken by the owners.

Our 1000 Trees project greatly exceeded expectations with 2296 seedlings being planted! More details here.

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Mount Roland Land Care's Annual General Meeting, attended by 50 people, was very enjoyable.

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​Our inspirational guest speakers were Josh Gordon and Beck Drake from the newly-established Tasmania Wildlife Hospital at Forth, and Michelle and Bethany Hutt who are wildlife carers at Cradle Mountain.

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We also heard some beautiful harp music from Kate Fraser.

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MRLC members elected a new committee including Tracy Kelly (President), Kylie Tune (Vice President), Janet Dunbabin (Treasurer), and Greg Taylor (Secretary).

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The meeting was followed by a delicious afternoon tea.

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The President's Report for 2022-3 can be viewed here.

The Spring plantings for our 1000 Trees for Kentish in 2023 project kicked off at a spectacular farm on Claude Road, just outside of Sheffield.

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23 volunteers planted 246 trees in two hours, and were then treated to a gourmet lunch provided by the land-owners.

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The plantings continue at different properties on Sat 9 Sep and Sun 17 Sep. Please join us! More details here [view PDF].

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A small group of our dedicated volunteers weeded an impressive number of Spanish Heath plants today. We worked on a lovely little creek which flows into the Minnow River. 

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This is part of a broader control effort in the Minnow River catchment also involving Kentish Council and TAS Networks.

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Two special field visits!

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First, a guided tour of a very successful certified-organic farm at Barrington to see a variety of mixed shelter belts (exotics and natives).

Second, a visit to a beautiful property in the Minnow Catchment to view three small-scale blackwood plantations demonstrating different establishment methods and stages of growth.

Such an enjoyable, inspiring day with a great deal of learning!

Thank you so much to our hosts.

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Click here [view PDF] for the flier.

The Autumn plantings for 1000 Trees for Kentish in 2023 were great fun! Our fabulous volunteers planted around 1200 trees at four sites, including the Wilmot School, two working farms, and the Kentish Transfer Station.

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There was so much to love about Grounded, our mini festival held last weekend!

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At Gowrie Park in the atmospheric surrounds of The Old Black Stump (Wilder Tasmania), we were treated to some informative and entertaining presentations on bats, wild Tasmanian foods, slime moulds, and soil.  We heard great talks from locals, including Laura Wildsmith with some fascinating insights into local currawongs. The live music by Amber Rae Slade, Isabel Rumble and Pete Cornelius Trio was something very special!

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Finally, our wonderful volunteers planted about 400 native plants next to the Sheffield Transfer Station!

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As part of Mount Roland Land Care's Giant Freshwater Crayfish Project, Todd Walsh - globally recognised as an authority on this important, endangered species - visited our area.

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Todd, aided by a small team, fitted ropes to several under-road culverts. The hope is that the crayfish will use these ropes instead of attempting to cross the road. Crayfish as part of the road-kill toll are not something that anyone wants!

The sites are being monitored subsequently to check if the crayfish are using the ropes.

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For updates please see our Giant Freshwater Crayfish Project page.

38 people had a very informative and enjoyable time at the workshop conducted by Ruth Mollison in a lovely patch of privately-owned native bush at Stoodley.

 

Ruth guided us through the process of identifying and collecting the seed of a number of beautiful native plants, with further tips on how to prepare and store seed prior to planting. Thanks Ruth! – we very much appreciate your expertise.  Also many thanks to Ronlyn and Art for generously hosting this event!

Mount Roland Land Care was delighted to be part of the visit of about eighty Scout Rovers (aged 18-28) to the area. The Scouts travelled from all over Australia and stayed at Gowrie Park 1-5 Jan.

 

Kristen Lang, MRLC President, spoke to the Scouts about biodiversity and quiet observation at the beautiful setting of O'Neills Creek. The Scouts recorded many of their observations on iNaturalist.

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Greg Taylor followed with a short presentation on biosecurity in natural environments, including weeds and pathogens.

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A very enjoyable activity for both Scouts and presenters with lots of shared learning!

Find out more here.

It is foxglove flowering time! These traditional and spectacular garden plants have sadly become a major weed problem in Tasmania.

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If you live in the Kentish Municipality, you can report sightings of foxgloves on our Foxglove Hotline page.

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To find out more about foxgloves, read this article which was published in the December issue of The Kentish Voice.

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A small but hard-working team of volunteers weeded three sites around Mount Roland to control Montpellier broom.

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This weed is in flower at the moment and its yellow flowers make it highly visible.

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The working bee was part of our extensive Mount Roland weeds program which has been in operation since 2011. Click here for more information.

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Thanks to all of our wonderful volunteers, our 1000th tree was planted today at Kings Road. A spectacular location with the Mount Roland Regional Reserve just above. Thank you everyone!

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The group held a very successful and enjoyable AGM at Claude Road Hall, 26 Sep. Highlights included:

• A new Committee, headed by President Kristen Lang.

• A change to the name of the group. We are now Mount Roland Land Care.

• A changed constitution to better reflect current priorities and technological advancements. Further details here [View PDF].

• Talks by land owners who have hosted "1000 Trees" plantings on their properties. Presentation of participant survey findings by Ronlyn Duncan.

• Poetry readings.

• "Battling foxgloves": the experience of local landowner Tracy Kelly.