2020 Projects

2020-22 NSW Environmental Trust Protecting and Enhancing Biodiversity

01st Sep 2020

$97,988

This project will increase the extent of native habitat through planting more than 19,000 native species trees and shrubs on 12 privately managed farming properties across the Glen Innes district. The 35 project sites will plant species known to be present in 2 Threatened Ecological Communities - New England Peppermint grassy woodlands and White box-Yellow box-Blakley's red gum grassy woodlands. These new plantings will assist in providing habitat for flora and fauna species in a fragmented landscape, featuring extensive areas of cleared land adjoining areas of National Reserve.

Funding source: NSW Environmental Trust

2020-21 Combatting Pests and Weeds in Drought

01st Jun 2020

$683,681

This project aims to assist local landholders and primary producers on two fronts. Firstly, the project, if successful will support landholders in identifying new and emerging weeds introduced via livestock fodder imported from other regions and interstate during the drought and, where required, employ local contractors to control the infestations at no cost to the landholder.

Secondly, the project aims to reduce the environmental and economical impact of weedy grass species through roadside control programs including Coolatai Grass (Hyparrhenia hirta), Whiskey Grass (Andropogon virginicus), Giant Parramatta Grass (Sporobolus fertilis) and Bahia Grass (Paspalum notatum) which have the potential to invade roadsides and neighbouring pastures, reducing biodiversity and productivity.

Funding source: Australian Government

2019-20 Smart Farming - Pest Animals in the Spotlight

01st May 2020

$36,560

This project will deliver skills, knowledge and capacity to landholders in the Glen Innes region for improved pest animal management. A Pest Animal Forum with at least 40 participants will enable greater adoption of proven and new pest animal management  techniques targetting foxes, wild dogs, rabbits and feral pigs.

The Pest Animal Forum will bring together both private and public land managers with technical expertise from various government agencies, Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, NSW Department of Primary Industries and pest animal control practitioners. Six pest animal focus events will engage 120 landholders and will highlight best management practices, effective control techniques and methodologies and new technologies. These events will focus on the priority species for the region as well as other species important to improving biodiversity conservation in an agricultural landscape - Indian Myna birds, feral cats and deer.

Funding source: DAWE

2020 GISC Bushfire Capacity Building Events

01st Mar 2020

$30,440

This project will help build the capacity of rural landholders and small businesses in the Glen Innes community through a series of events and workshops. These events will bring people together to learn skills but will also help to build and maintain social networks and provide peer support to many
people who will be continuing to deal with the impacts of drought and drought recovery.
The project will deliver the following events:

• Rural Womens Day (October 2020) bringing together at least 40 rural women to learn from a
  number of speakers.

• Fit Farmers (September 2020) focussed on encouraging farm safety and mental health
  awareness for at least 40 people.

• Workplace Health & Safety– workshop to improve rural business workplace safety and
  reduce on farm accidents for at least 15 people.

• Managing Staff – workshop to assist rural business with implementing systems to better
  manage employment for at least 15 people.

• Governance & Board Effectiveness for community groups and organisations to increase the
  skills and knowledge of committee members and attract people to taking on executive roles
  within groups.

• 2 workshops for 30 people.

• Household Composting primarily targeting urban residents to reduce green waste and
  encourage recycling for 20 people.

Funding source: Glen Innes Severn Council

2020 GISC Water in the Landscape

01st Mar 2020

$26,800

This project would engage landholders in events which aim to build their knowledge about water in the landscape. The drought conditions across the Glen Innes Severn area have highlighted the risk to livestock grazing enterprises of a lack of water. Intense drought conditions across the area have resulted in a number of landholders either having to find alternate water sources such as bores or installing pump, tank and trough systems to be able to provide water for livestock. Helping landholders to be able to understand regenerative agriculture and concepts like Natural Sequence Farming will enable better planning for the impact of drought conditions on water availability in future drought situations. The project will engage at least 100 landholders in 3 events across the period to end of December 2020, it will bring a number of well recognised speakers to the area to share knowledge and experience with local landholders.

Funding source: Glen Innes Severn Council

2020 GISC Drought Communities Round 2 $100K

01st Mar 2020

$100,000

GLENRAC would build on the success of the initial Drought Communities program by providing 1 FTE Drought Support Officer to provide services to the Glen Innes Severn community. The outputs of the 2019 Drought Support project are provided in the attached summary.
The services provided from March to December 2020 would include:

• Provide access to information about financial and other support measures available through the GLENRAC office, website, regular e‐flash, newsletter and social media.

• Establish displays at some of the rural outlets across the area to provide information about assistance and resources available.

• Provide one‐on‐one assistance to landholders to complete applications for transport subsidies, water infrastructure and other assistance.

• Act as a referral service to mental health service providers and work with those providers to promote, at events and activities, the importance of mental health.

• Coordinate a number of events (12 events) in smaller communities across the Glen Innes Severn area e.g. Deepwater, Ben Lomond, Emmaville to provide relevant information but also an opportunity for people to gather, share and provide peer support.

• Assist community groups across to access grant funding to support their activities.

• Work with a variety of organisations (e.g. CWA, Lions, Rotary),both within and outside the Glen Innes Severn area, to facilitate distribution of donated goods, funds and services to those landholders and small businesses in need.

Funding source: Glen Innes Severn Council

2019-2020 FRRR TTTT Focus Events

18th Feb 2020

$19,980

This project will deliver a series of 12 events across 15 months for the Glen Innes Severn community. These events will be focussed around building skills, knowledge and confidence for drought management and recovery. The events will be short (maximum 3 hours) evening activities to encourage participation, especially those with off farm employment. They will include a light meal to provide time for networking to increase sharing and connectedness in our community and provide some peer support in dealing with drought recovery and management.

The funds will contribute to advertising in local media (Glen Innes Examiner), venue hire (Glen Innes Services Club), catering, speaker / presenter fees and costs such as travel / accommodation and staff time to coordinate the events. GLENRAC has significant experience in running similar events over a number of years so have a good knowledge of the costs and in kind contributions.

Funding source: FRRR

2019-20 NSW Stronger Country Communities

01st Feb 2020

$78,335

This project will support and build the resilience of the Glen Innes district community to survive and recover from the impacts of the current severe drought conditions. It will build the skills and capacity of community members as well as increasing their ability to connect with available assistance and provide a platform to connect with each other and provide
peer support.

Funding source: NSW Government