Community
28 May, 2025
Heytesbury Landcare seeks community feedback
HEYTESBURY District Landcare Network (HDLN) are seeking community feedback and ideas for future activities or events across the district.
The staff and volunteers at HDLN have organised many events over the years, aiming to ensure there’s something for each member of the community, depending on their interests in relation to the local environment.
There have been a range of weed buster events, aimed towards landholders to eliminate ragwort and blackberries.
Other events have been aimed more towards anyone in the community, such as learning about the fossils of the 12 Apostles, visiting the rail trail with a birding expert, a snake and spider safety training seminar, and even an upcoming canoeing day.
HDLN Landcare coordinator Michelle Leech said the range at the network was vast, and they were looking for feedback from people who have and have not attended events to suggest what they might be interested in attending down the line.
“We work on sustainable farming practices, which are focused on landholders, right through to community gardening workshops, learning about edible plants, foraging, and that sort of thing,” she said.
“We also have grant funding around biodiversity so finding out what lives here like fungi, more projects like that.
“Also, we want to encourage getting active in nature and connecting with other likeminded people, by tree planting, finding out more about native vegetation, nursery volunteering, learning how to grow native plants – even seed collecting.
“The scope of HDLN is anything environmental, anything involving getting out and interacting with our environment, either as a farmer hoping to increase productivity or interested in having some patches of native vegetation on their property, right through to community and how they might like to interact with nature or their outdoor spaces in their community.”
Volunteer secretary Regina Mudge said anyone interested in getting active in their own garden could also benefit from workshops with the network.
“We want to include people who wish to put more natives in their garden,” she said.
“Even going away from natives and helping people out who want to grow good tomatoes – everyone starts somewhere, and they can branch out after.
“We can help with all sorts of home things, because while it’s great to know about fungus and all of that, it’s not until you get out into your own garden you start to notice those things are there.
“When you’re planting your tomatoes or putting in some trees, and you find yourself asking, ‘What’s this?’ – we can help out then, too.”
Network manager Louise Osborne said the team at HDLN has plenty of horticultural experience which anyone in the area can benefit from.
“Basically, if you live in the district, and you look out the window and you see land, there’s something we can do for you,” she said.
“Whether it’s your land or someone else’s land, if it’s a big patch of land or small patch of land – if you see something, we can help you.”
HDLN are inviting community members to complete their survey to best understand the district’s current wants and needs, which can be found at https://bit.ly/landcarefeedback.
Residents are also welcome to contact Mrs Leech via email at michelle@heytesburylandcare.org.au.
The Heytesbury District Landcare Network office is located at Shop 1/47 Main Street in Timboon for anyone who wishes to speak to a staff member or volunteer in person.
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