Eleven winners of the National Landcare Awards have been announced at the dinner in Melbourne last Thursday evening 18th September.

Also announced at the dinner was the winner of the Bob Hawke Landcare Award; NSW farmer Colin Seis.

Landcare Australia CEO Tessa Jakszewicz congratulated all winners at the National Landcare Awards which included our very own Heidi taylor from Tangaroa Blue Foundation.

“Although Landcare needs to adapt to changing times, our driving purpose remains to protect, restore and sustain Australia’s natural environment and its productivity for future generations,” she said.

Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce, congratulated Landcare on their successes over the past 25 years, and particularly tonight’s winners of the National Landcare Awards.

“Congratulations to all the awardees – what a great mix of individuals and groups working on a range of different projects – all in support of better land management across Australia.

“Landcarers have made a real and positive difference to the way we manage our natural resources and the long-term productivity of our agriculture and fisheries sector. I know that many farmers and those involved in agriculture are longtime, passionate and committed landcarers and it’s great that the Landcare movement has elevated the recognition of sustainable land management.

Recognition for this hard work is well-deserved, but rare, and I would like to thank everyone who has made a contribution to the Landcare movement, big or small, and I look forward to the bright future ahead for Landcare,” Minister Joyce said.

The Awards have seen 69 finalists represent every State and Territory in nine diverse categories, from sustainable farm practices to Coastcare and Indigenous land management, in addition to the People’s Choice and Bob Hawke Awards.

All 69 finalist case studies and photos by category are available via www.landcareonline.com.au/2014nationalawards.

The three-day National Landcare Conference, with the theme- Celebrating our history - growing our future, is running until 19 September 2014 at Melbourne’s Crown Conference Centre. Program information is available at nationallandcareconference.floktu.com

And the winners are:

The 2014 Bob Hawke Landcare Award – Colin Seis, NSW
Colin Seis invented and developed ‘multi species pasture cropping’ (pasture cropping), helping produce food for the growing human population while restoring grasslands and soil, and thereby the sustainability of farms. Pasture cropping is now internationally recognised by leading crop scientists.

Coastcare – Tangaroa Blue Foundation
The Australian Marine Debris Initiative was created by Tangaroa Blue Foundation in 2004.  Since then, there have been over 26,000 public volunteer opportunities and over 2.4 million items of marine debris have been removed from the Australian coastline, including 907,000 items from sites in the State.

The 2014 National Landcare People’s Choice Award – Mallee Sustainable Farming, SA Mallee Sustainable Farming delivers research and extension services for low rainfall dryland farmers in the mallee cropping regions of South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria and operates over 7 million hectares.

Australian Government Individual Landcarer – Russell Fry, QLD
Russell often has to deal with the misconception that Landcare is essentially about planting trees. His strong belief is that Landcare is about the sustainable use of natural resources to build sustainable farms, supporting communities and the environment.

Australian Government Innovation in Sustainable Farm Practices – Lakefield Station, NT.  By producing food in a best practice fashion, Lakefield Station is ensuring it will remain a resilient primary producer, able to deal with climatic and market variations and remains a productive enterprise; the family cattle station also has approximately 1200ha under conservation.

Australian Government Landcare Facilitator or Coordinator – Louise Hufton, NSW  Louise Hufton has spent more than 20 years driving change in the Harden Murrumburrah region of NSW. Using her role as coordinator for the Harden Murrumburrah Landcare Group, Louise has inspired members, facilitated change and achieved ambitious on-ground projects such as the Community Stream Monitoring Project.

Australian Government Partnerships with Landcare – Goolwa to Wellington Local Action Planning Association, SA.  Contracted to deliver for the Murray Futures program, the Goolwa to Wellington Local Planning Association has engaged volunteers from more than 54 community groups (in excess of 3000 volunteers per annum), planting almost a million seedlings on a total of some 100 sites since 2010.

Indigenous Land Management – Yurung Dhaura Aboriginal Land Management Team, ACT.  The focus for the Yurung Dhaura was to train and skill Indigenous people in environmental regeneration and traditional land management, which proved a great success in helping the trainees and local Aboriginal community with environmental and social outcomes.

Junior Landcare Team – Lansdowne Crescent Primary School, TAS
Lansdowne Crescent Primary School’s Land to Sea team created a bilingual interpretive trail of Hobart’s Knocklofty Reserve – allowing visitors to access information by using their iPhones to scan the Quick Response (QR) codes, which directly link to the Land to Sea Website developed by the team.

Qantas Landcare Innovative Community Group – Roleybushcare, WA
Roleybushcare formed to conserve the bush from phytophthora dieback – recognised by governments as a major threat to the biodiversity of the country. They designed and manufactured hydraulic tree injectors, injected over 18,000 trees to protect them and ensured every local bushland reserve had a registered custodian with council.

Westpac Agribusiness Innovative Young Landcare Leader – Kate Sputore, WA
Kate Sputore knows the power of volunteer engagement. She is adept at encouraging new generations to join the Coastcare and Landcare movement, whilst also building on and attracting recognition for the invaluable work of our volunteers. Kate coordinated the first Coastcare for Singles event in WA, among other major events.

The National Landcare Awards are supported by Landcare Australia, through funding from the Australian Government, and sponsored by Qantas and Westpac Agribusiness.