Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association - Advancing and protecting the interests of Cattle Producers in the Northern Territory

June 2008

NLP Sustainable Practices
The NLP Sustainable Practices applications have recently been assessed by NT primary industry and Australian Government personnel. An announcement of successful projects is expected to be made before July 2008.

DAFF Agricultural Industries Young Innovators and Scientists Awards
People between the ages of 18 and 35 who work or study in an agricultural, fisheries, forestry, food or natural resource industry are encouraged to apply for the 2008 awards. Winners can use the $20,000 (plus one $50,000) funding for a range of activities including a research project, an industry visit, further study in a specific area or attending a conference. Closing date for applications is 14 July 2008 and for more information on the awards go to www.daff.gov.au/scienceawards or (02) 6272 5039.

Land & Water Australia NRM Innovation Call
Land & Water Australia are seeking innovative project proposals which seek to achieve improved sustainable use and management of Australia’s natural resources in areas such as emissions trading, greenhouse gases, climate and atmospheric change and market-based instruments.

Applications close 27 June 2008 and for more information contact (02) 6263 6017 or http://www.lwa.gov.au/Apply_for_Funding/Innovation_Call/indexdl_8805.aspx

Tertiary Agricultural Scholarships
Coca-Cola Regional Scholarships Program is offering 34 scholarships worth $2,000 each for students studying Agriculture related subjects and are members of Agricultural Show Societies. Applications close 30 June 2008. For application forms and information go to http://www.acas.asn.au/coca-cola/

NT National Agricultural Monitoring Systems ( NAMS) workshops
Workshops to introduce NAMS in the NT will be conducted in June 2008. NAMS is a web-based tool, which contains a range of climatic and production information for dryland/broadacre and irrigated industries in over 600 regions throughout Australia. The workshops will be conducted in Katherine on 17June and Darwin on 19 June 2008. For more information contact Phil Hausler on 08 89992301 or phil.hausler@nt.gov.au

Beef up Forums with DPIFM & Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA)
DPIFM and MLA are conducting Beef up Forums to provide practical tools and information to beef up your business. Forums will be conducted at Victoria River Research Station (Kidman Springs) on 6 August and at Adelaide River on 8 August. For more information contact Phil Hausler on 08 89992301 phil.hausler@nt.gov.au or Simone White on 08 8973 9764.

Market Based Instruments (MBI) Workshops in NT
Workshops providing information on the use of MBIs in the management of natural resources will be conducted in the NT. Participants will develop an appreciation of the breadth of MBI types and their application in tackling a wide range of NRM issues. The workshop is designed for people with little or no experience in MBIs and will be presented by an expert team with broad experience in MBI development and implementation. Workshops will be conducted in Alice Springs on 24 & 25 June and in Darwin on 26 & 27 June . For more information contact Carl Glen on 07 32393884 or go to www.marketbasedinstruments.gov.au.

Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) Project Management Workshop
CVA and Toyota will be conducting a free ‘Project Management for Community Groups’ workshop in Darwin. The half day workshop is designed to share experience and expertise with NT volunteer managers and coordinators (paid and unpaid). The workshop will be conducted on 13 August 2008 at Bridge Toyota Darwin, and for registration and further details contact Chantal Bramley on 8981 3206 or cbramley@conservationvolunteers.com.au

Landcare Australia (LAL) Grants
LAL offers funding for a variety of landcare activities.

Currently open at www.landcareonline.com

Australia Post Community Development – community & environment (closes 19 Sep 2008)
Dilmah Water Quality Funding – water quality monitoring & training (closes 31 Oct 2008)
Junior Landcare Grants – school landcare projects (closes 1 August 2008)
Citipower/Powercorp Grants - Junior Landcare revegetation (closes 27 June 2008)
Westpac Operation Backyard – environment funded projects with Westpac staff volunteers

Landcare Australia (LAL) Wollemi Pine Gift to Landcare Groups
LAL and Wollemi Australia have provided a gift Wollemi pine to Landcare (including school and Coastcare groups) throughout Australia. NLP, Greening Australia NT and Landcare NT are supporting the Wollemi concept in the NT.

The Wollemi Pine is one of the world’s oldest and rarest trees – less than 100 exist today in the wild. The successful cultivation of the Wollemi is a great success story for Australia, and a fitting thank you gift to all the Landcare groups who continue to contribute to the environment.

In the spirit of Landcare, each Wollemi could possibly be used for public display, planting on a project site, assisting in the promotion of a project or encouraging new members to join (and for those who are wondering, despite being very rare, the tree is very hardy)!

Visit www.wollemipine.com for details, to look up care and planting instructions.

LAL encourage all groups who collect a Wollemi Pine to register their group on the LAL website at www.landcareonline.com/directory so they can receive further landcare opportunities and information.

If your Landcare Group is interested in collecting a free Wollemi Pine from Darwin, Katherine or Alice Springs contact Ian Linley at ianlinley@bigpond.com or 0428 330 131.

NLP Landcare Tent
NLP has supplied a landcare badged tent to the Darwin/Katherine landcare and primary industry sectors. The tent will be available for groups around these regions (pending availability and group organised transport) and it measures approximately 6 x 4 metres under cover, with optional sides.

Contacts for the tent are:
Ian Linley at ianlinley@bigpond.com or 0428 330 131
Pete Foster at peter.foster@nt.gov.au or 0401 118 344

NLP is currently attempting to obtain a similar tent for the Alice Springs region.

Ian Linley
NT Industry Landcare Coordinator
08 8941 4766
0428 330 131
ianlinley@bigpond.com

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Working on Country applications are now being sought for 2008-09. A total of up to $6 million will be available for on-ground work in 2008-2009, and funding for up to five years can be sought.

Deadline
Applications will close 5pm EST Monday 11 August 2008.

Funding information
For information about this funding round, including guidelines, please go to:

http://www.nrm.gov.au/funding/woc.html

Please note that interested applicants must contact the Working on Country team to obtain an Application Form. Staff will discuss your project with you, provide any advice that you need and send you an Application Form. Contact us on 1800 552 008 (freecall).

Existing Working on Country projects
For information about previous projects that have been funded under Working on Country, please go to:

http://www.environment.gov.au/indigenous/workingoncountry/index.html

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The Northern Territory will receive $720,000 for 8 new projects under the Community Support component of the National Landcare Programme.

Congratulations to all successful applicants in the 2007/2008 grant round!

Northern Territory - 2007-08 Investments under the National Landcare Programme

Projects	2007-08 NLP Funding ($)
Progressing the grazing land management (GLM) movement	97,640
Strategic management of Parkinsonia aculeata in the Georgina River catchment NT	152,603
Introducing a culture of sustainability amongst growers from non-English Speaking backgrounds	30,000
Protection of production and conservation values of the Sturt Plateau	29,100
Proactively managing culturally important areas to promote biodiversity and sustainable production	48,500
The development of wildlife enterprises to achieve employment and NRM outcomes	124,000
Using multi-media to improve vegetation management in remote Aboriginal communities	16,000
Capacity building, business management and pest species management through best practices	221,400
Total	719,243

Progressing the grazing land management (GLM) movement ($97,640)

Pastoralists in the NT will implement the Grazing Land Management (GLM) plans they designed during GLM workshops. This project will ensure that current and future GLM graduates will continue to apply their property management plans and will culminate in a GLM Exchange—an opportunity for those involved in GLM to share experiences and showcase outcomes.

Contact: Stuart Kenny, Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association,
08 8981 5976

Strategic management of Parkinsonia aculeata in the Georgina River catchment NT ($152,603)
This catchment-based project will manage the Weeds of National Significance species, Parkinsonia, across 3.5 million ha of the Georgina River headwaters. It will involve producing weed management plans for the 12 properties involved, training for land managers, surveys, on-ground control work, and partnership building opportunities.

Contact: Suzie Kearins, Barkly Landcare & Conservation Association, 08 8964 4681

Introducing a culture of sustainability amongst growers from non-English Speaking backgrounds ($30,000)

This project will produce a profile of natural resource management (NRM) issues in the non-English speaking background sector of the horticultural industry. It will also identify strategies to engage the sector to introduce appropriate techniques to address NRM issues.

Contact: Tracey Leo, Northern Territory Horticultural Association, 08 8983 3233

Protection of production and conservation values of the Sturt Plateau ($29,100)

This project will develop best practice weed management for the Sturt Plateau, including an analysis of current weed management options and the establishment of demonstration sites. It will also involve capacity building to improve data collection, monitoring skills and communication to ensure uptake and implementation of new strategies.

Contact: Roxie Holzwart, Sturt Plateau Best Practice Group, 08 8975 9974

Proactively managing culturally important areas to promote biodiversity and sustainable production ($48,500)

This project will rehabilitate a 20 km stretch of Timber Creek. Local people wish to return this area to its natural state and prevent any flow-on degradation to downstream pastoral properties.

Contact: Chrissy Joll, Timber Creek Community Government Council, 08 8975 0860

The development of wildlife enterprises to achieve employment and NRM outcomes ($124,000)

This project will establish sustainable community-based enterprises based on utilising wildlife on remote Aboriginal lands in the Northern Territory. It will focus on the development of the billy goat plum industry and native bee production.

Contact: Sean Kerins, the Northern Land Council, 08 8920 5186

All Community Support projects are jointly supported by applicants and partners with matching contributions, in cash or in kind.

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Sustaining our land - sharing the good news - Mosaic Map website

A new website has been launched by the Australian Government which showcases nearly 500 outstanding projects which have significantly improved the management of Australia’s natural resources. The Mosaic Map website highlights a selection of projects funded over the last 10 years under the Government’s $5.1 billion Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) and the associated $1.4 million National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (NAP).

The Mosaic Map website displays a map of Australia which will allow users to search for and learn about projects at a national, state, territory and regional level. “This website will allow farmers and community organisations throughout Australia to share their natural resource management knowledge and experiences,” Minister McGauran said.

This internet site is easily accessible and will be an invaluable tool for land managers, planners, researchers, community organisations and individuals across the country. Learning from one another in this way means we won’t have to reinvent the wheel and will help to make sure Australian Government investment in these projects continues to produce lasting benefits for the community, the rural sector and the environment.

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NRETA MAPS is now available for the public to use!

Learn how to use this web-based mapping application at a FREE Katherine workshop on 28 and 29 June. More information at www.nt.gov.au/nretamaps. NRETA Maps is a FREE web-based application for the discovery, interrogation and mapping of Northern Territory natural and cultural resource data and information.

This mapping service is managed by the Spatial Data and Mapping Branch of the Department of Natural Resources, Environment and The Arts (NRETA). Using NRETA Maps you will be able to:

Landcare - What's new?

This newsletter is circulated to provide information regarding the National Landcare Program (NLP) DAFF and associated primary industry best practice opportunities and activities.