About KILG (prev. KINRM)
KING ISLAND LANDCARE GROUP had a name change in 2021. It was formerly known as King Island Natural Resource Management group (KINRM).
The King Island Natural Resources Management Group (KINRMG) was formed in 1996, with representatives from island Landcare Groups, the King Island Council, Parks and Wildlife, King Island District High School and the general community.
KILG are now able to accept tax deductible donations. DONATE TO KING ISLAND LANDCARE GROUP
Thanks to Landcare Tasmania for their support to use their Deductible Gift Recipient facility
The King Island Natural Resource Management Strategy 2010-2020 (referred to as the Strategy) guides the activities of KINRM. The review is almost complete, with support from Cradle Coast NRM.
The Strategy focuses on what can be achieved on King Island in natural resource management, and how best to achieve these goals for King Island’s asset areas of Land, Biodiversity, Coast and Water. The goals have been developed with input from the community, interested groups and the KINRMG.
The Strategy is divided into three sections: Introduction; Strategic Plan; and Implementation Plan. It has been developed to be used by anyone with an interest in King Island to help collaboratively guide King Island’s natural resource management.
The current Strategy updates the document which was written by Jen Milne in 2010. This 2010-2020 Strategy was based on a review conducted in 1998-2001 by Facilitator, Helen Morgan. King Island Natural Resource Management Review and Strategic Action Plan 1998-2001 Helen Morgan, 2001
Current Executive:
Heidi Weitjens – Chairperson
Greg Morris – Vice Chair and Public Officer
Jennifer Thorn – Treasurer
Lizzie Cambra – Secretary
Current Committee Members:
Shelley Graham – Parks and Wildlife representative
Margaret Batey – Field Naturalists representative
Ash Kennedy – Birds of King Island representative
Sarina Laidler – Councillor representative
Carmen Holloway – Community representative
James Hill – Community representative
Garry Sutton – Community representative
Helen Strickland – Community representative
Liz Bond – Community representative
Arthur Heynemann – Community representative
Kate Ravich – Birdlife Australia representative
CHAIR ANNUAL REPORT for 1/7/2022 to 30/6/2023
King Island Landcare Group (KILG) had a number of highlights for the year to 30 June 2023, but for me the best part was the wonderful team of staff and volunteers working together on creative and useful projects, while still getting the ordinary business of the organisation done. Our staff team is going from strength to strength, with capable leadership from Nathalia and Eve. It’s great to see Donna and Renae step into leadership roles: Donna leading the Landcare Crew on ground works; and Renae coordinating the community nursery project. Tracey joined the Landcare Crew and both Megan and James, chose to return to work for us on their returns to the island, which points to our positive work environment. The whole team is well supported by Jess, who has the administration running smoothly. And of course, behind them is a skilled and committed committee, all bringing knowledge and vision to our activities.
Current projects:
A number of projects have been initiated from the Threatened Birds of King Island Conservation Action Plan. A volunteer steering committee (KIBCAP) guides actions for species recovery, in particular the King Island Scrubtit and King Island Brown Thornbill. This group is chaired by Kate Ravich and is supported by Birdlife Australia. King Island Landcare committee members and community representatives join a team of expert ornithologists and ecologists, and representatives of various organisations and Government departments on the committee. Activities from the conservation action plan include bird population surveys; defining and mapping habitat requirements; and ground-truthing the vegetation communities, which will result in better TasVeg mapping.
Enhancing King Island Brown Thornbill habitat for future corridor, a project supported by Cradle Coast Authority through funding from the Australian Government, represents the first stage of a long-term program to support species recovery on private land and establish habitat linkages between identified KI Brown Thornbill populations. Sophie managed this ambitious project, with support from three landholders, protecting and enhancing valuable remnant native vegetation. This project continues as a trial for livestock and wallaby exclusion into the future.
Building community capacity to restore native vegetation and monitor impacts of restoration effort will enable effective monitoring and the learnings will be incorporated into future revegetation and habitat protection activities. KILG acknowledge the support of “ANZ & Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal” for this project due for completion this November.
The King Island Landcare group Strategy Review started last November, with funding support and staff time contributions from Cradle Coast Authority. The Strategy is a comprehensive plan which prepares the organisation to work through a wide variety of activities around natural resource management. A number of working groups and community consultations have informed both the short-term and longer term outcomes and activities planned. Mark Wischnat, KI Council, facilitated a very useful Developing Your Elevator Pitch workshop, which developed our group focus. Thanks to Nathalia for achieving a comprehensive consultation and Wynta for stepping in to finalise the document. Two projects which developed from early discussions are the Feral Cat Population Control and King Island Native Plant Seed Collection and Nursery. The work on habitat for threatened species highlighted the need for a native plant nursery and seed collection; and inspired a range of community activities which produced hundreds of seedlings, and allowed a number of people to develop knowledge of local plants and propagation skills. Carmen and James Hill continue to contribute Frogshack Nursery space, equipment, materials and a lot of expertise. Generous funding from the Australian Environmental Grants Network has allowed us to employ Renae on a very part-time basis to coordinate future activities. Garry Sutton has resurrected the eco-seeder used by Reekara Landcare group in the 1990’s, in readiness for proposed direct seeding of native vegetation.
There are a number of organisations and Government Departments working towards Cat Management. Cradle Coast NRM, TassieCat and King Island Council have roles in domestic cat management. KILG will work with local community, KIBCAP committee, Deakin University, Biosecurity Tasmania and Cradle Coast NRM on various aspects of controlling the feral population. There has been a strong positive community response to the feral cat trapping program coordinated by KILG, using both existing traps and new ones purchased and on loan by the group.
The Moonbird Festival in April was a feast of music, art, food and wine. The Bowerbird Collective founded and directed this great fundraising event. Kate Ravich contributed a huge amount of time and work, and gathered a wonderful team from the community and friends of the island who donated time, venues, art and produce.
The efforts over many years of Margaret and Graeme Batey and Ken Baker are recognised in Framing the King Island Herbarium. Funded through King Island Council’s Community Assistance Program 2022-23, Ian Wilson has done a beautiful job framing 27 samples. The opening exhibition will be at the Cultural Centre from 26 October. Nubar Ghazarian donated his expertise in photographing the samples, to record the details prior to framing. These are now available to view on the website.
Ongoing and perennial projects:
Wings on King – is a very successful citizen science project, conducting bird surveys in Autumn and Spring every year. Kate Ravich has passed the coordination role on to Shelley Graham and Ash Kennedy, and we will soon complete the seventh year of biannual surveys.
Victorian Wader Study Group biannual surveys – involves individuals from KILG who participate in the surveys each spring and autumn. The information gained is important and, as stated on VWSG website, “The deployment of geolocators on Ruddy Turnstone will continue at King Island and in SE of SA as these provide important data for longitudinal and local studies enabling, for instance, any impact from climate change and/or habitat changes to be observed. In addition, these instruments provide one of the only means of assessing the incubation characteristics of these species when on the breeding grounds”.
Both the Inkweed Eradication and Asparagus fern control are supported through funding from the Tasmanian Weeds Action Fund, a $5 million Tasmanian Government initiative funded until 2024. The task of immediate eradication of the new Inkweed incursion on King Island identified near Naracoopa in 2020 is larger than first realised. New outlier infestations are being found in the area, but the control to date has been very effective. The Asparagus Fern project will trial control methods, both herbicide and hand-pulling. Follow up of previous control work will be completed. A Strategic Plan for the future management of Asparagus Fern will be a major outcome.
Serrated Tussock Eradication – ongoing control is funded for three years by Biosecurity Tasmania’s Invasive Grasses Project. The original infestation is nearly eradicated after many years of constant attention, but a new infestation has been found elsewhere. Control work will continue.
Currie Wharf Bush Restoration Project – KI Council are funding the Landcare Crew to complete on-going maintenance. Volunteer working bees will continue as needed.
Rehabilitation of the Lower reaches of Porky Creek – the Landcare Crew, with funding from PWS, and neighbouring landholders have boxthorn and other weeds largely under control. Occasional follow up will be required.
Protecting Boggy Creek Geoheritage Site and KI Coastal Complex – there is no formal KILG project, but the site will be monitored by volunteers, both for weeds and water quality issues. The office of the Minister for Environment advised, September 2023 “There is no evidence of any environmental issues at the terraces as far as he [NW Regional Manager] could see.”
On-going management of Biodiversity threats/impacts – e.g. weeds, European wasps, feral cats, deer, and wallaby.
Raising community awareness of natural resource management issues and on-going educational activities remain a core activity for King Island Landcare group.
On-going funding to support the group remains a serious issue. Many of KILG’s goals for the island’s environmental assets remain aspirational due to lack of funding. Much of our staff time is consumed by seeking project funding, managing, and acquitting funding rounds. These and other core activities are funded either through our diminishing retained funds; or the small profits from fee-for-services delivered by the Landcare Crew. KI Council also contributes annual funds towards our administration. Council continues to provide us with office space, and garage space for the vehicle and equipment used by the Landcare Crew for on-ground work. Cradle Coast Authority NRM offer considerable support through staff time and continue to look for funding opportunities from the Australian Government. Private or business donations to KILG are now tax deductible under Landcare Tasmania DGR status.
Once more this year, Committee members have all stepped forward and taken on different roles as required. The group really would not succeed without the expertise and commitment of this strong committee. It is difficult to give particular thanks as every Committee member has continued to bring their experience to various tasks and contribute their time to our activities. In saying that though, massive thanks are due to Lizzie Cambra for not only doing a great job as Secretary, but also for organising behind the scenes, running the monthly meetings, and doing much of the follow up work of the group.
Graeme Batey and Ana Pimenta step down from the committee this year. They have both been stalwarts of the group over many years. Thank you Graeme, for generously sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm for our birdlife; representing King Island Field Naturalists on our group; and bringing valuable farming knowledge to our discussions. Ana has filled both employee and committee member roles at various times. She was a very proficient and creative Regional Landcare Officer, before taking on the group’s Project Officer role. Ana was a member of the Cradle Coast Regional NRM Committee, building and maintaining valuable networks for our group. Later she brought her detailed knowledge of our projects and financial system to her role as Treasurer. I thank her for the calm, capable support she has offered both me and the administrative staff.
KILG look forward to a busy and useful future. There is much more to do, but I am confident the skills and energy of the committee, staff and community volunteers will continue to make a real difference in the management of King Island natural resources. Our environment and our community will benefit from the work we do to improve our unique, beautiful island.
Jennifer Thorn
Chairperson
Nominated for Life memberships, 14 November 2022:
- Margaret Batey: long serving Committee member; an original “Weed Buster”; reliable participant in “Wings on King” and Victorian Waders Study group activities; and Herbarium Coordinator
- Graeme Batey: long serving Committee member; an original “Weed Buster”; reliable participant in “Wings on King” and Victorian Waders Study group activities; Field Naturalist representative
- Greg Morris: Committee member since inception and long serving Public Officer; always available signatory; participant in wallaby/possum exclusion project
- Helen Strickland:Chairperson for 5 years; Regional NRM advisory committee; Waterwatch volunteer; person behind the Chair when Gary lead the group in the early 2000’s
CHAIR ANNUAL REPORT for 1/7/2021 to 30/6/2022
King Island Landcare Group (KILG) is a strong and vibrant organisation, accomplishing much for our local environment despite a very limited budget. We have skilled and committed staff, currently 2 Project Officers and a crew of 3 conducting on-ground works. Great efforts go into a variety of projects by volunteers, school groups and staff.
The Currie Wharf Bush Restoration is a highlight. KILG started renovating the area around 2008 with the “Weed Busters” and have run many more projects since. Volunteers, staff and the school groups have contributed thousands of volunteer hours. Support for the project came from Council, local businesses, and different funding bodies. The removal of boxthorn, constant weeding, and replanting with natives have steadily improved the harbour area.
The On-Ground Works Team has achieved a great deal for the island’s environment doing revegetation and weed control on a fee-for-service basis. Ably lead by Nathalia Amaral and supported by Eve Woolmore, the team’s work is often strenuous – they are especially skilled at revegetation, and weed control in difficult terrain and dense vegetation. Two important weeds KILG are working to eradicate are inkweed and serrated tussock. Tasmanian Government programs will fund further control work: two years for inkweed under the Weeds Action Program, through NRM North; and three years for serrated tussock through the Invasive Grasses program.
King Island Landcare group has roles in both advocacy and program delivery. KILG works closely with and are supported by many other organisations, in particular: King Island Council; Landcare Tasmania: and Cradle Coast Authority Natural Resource Management which delivers Federal Government environmental programs. KILG works on a number of programs with Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania (NRE): Parks and Wildlife Service; Game Management Branch; and Biosecurity Tasmania.
We have a strong working partnership with Birdlife Australia. The King Island Birds Conservation Action Plan Steering Committee (KIBCAP) was formed to promote and coordinate actions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of conservation actions – currently focussed on the King Island scrubtit, King Island brown thornbill and King Island forest systems. Phil Bell led a program to define and map habitat requirements to support the survival of King Island threatened birds, through the Cradle Coast Authority. This has involved a number of expert ornithologists and ecologists surveying the island: a) establishing the occurrence of both KI brown thornbill and KI scrubtit and b) establishing accurate and detailed mapping of KI native vegetation. The vegetation information is already available on TASVEG Live. We look forward to the project completion and reports, and congratulate Phil and his team for initiating, undertaking and achieving this invaluable work.
The KIBCAP committee informed the Enhancing King Island brown thornbill habitat for future corridors project, which is supported by Cradle Coast Authority, through funding from the Australian Government. Sophie Oster joined our team as Project Officer and is managing the first stage of the project. The project includes community and landholder engagement, and a community survey on environmental matters has received 63 responses to date. Sophie is working with landholders to establish demonstration sites near Pegarah State Forest to allow regeneration of native vegetation, especially along valuable freshwater bodies that eventually will shape a vegetation corridor between Pegarah State Forest and Yarra Creek. Exclusion of stock from vulnerable riparian edges, improved weed management and wallaby control are some of the project goals.
The twice yearly bird counts, “Wings on King”, are a joint project of KILG, Birds of KI and Birdlife Australia. The autumn count has just finished and we look forward to updated data. KILG won the Australian Natural Environment Sustainability Award at the 2022 Sustainable Communities Awards for the Wings on King project. Congratulations to Kate Ravich and the Birds of King Island team for this achievement.
We have close relationships with King Island Field Naturalists and are very happy to house the King Island Herbarium. Margaret Batey maintains and continually augments this collection of King Island botanical samples. Margaret works with the Tasmanian Herbarium confirming identification and on occasion adds samples to the Tasmanian botanical collection.
A great deal of project planning has gone into feral cat population control. Learnings from the past inform us, that to be effective, work must be constant and for the long term. There are many individuals in the community willing to volunteer. Parties interested in furthering this project include: King Island Council; Cradle Coast Authority NRM; NRE’s Game Management branch, Parks and Wildlife Service, and Biosecurity Tasmania; and Deakin University. KILG has a key role in ensuring the program is coordinated and efficient.
We welcome Jess Loane to the administration and book-keeping roles. Jess was thrown in the deep end, joining us just as the audit process began, with the added challenge of both Chairperson and Treasurer working from off-island. Jess has done a wonderful job of bringing the last financial year to a close, and of learning the administration of a landcare organisation.
The Committee members have all stepped forward this year, taking on different roles as required. The group really would not succeed without the expertise and commitment of this strong committee. Particular thanks are due to Helen Strickland for 5 years of leadership as Chairperson. She has been a great support to the group throughout the year following her resignation as Chairperson and continues to bring her experience to various tasks. Massive thanks are due to Lizzie Cambra for not only doing a great job as Secretary, but also for organising behind the scenes, running the monthly meetings, and doing much of the follow up work of the group.
KILG look forward to a busy and useful future. There is much more to do, but I am confident the skills and energy of the committee, staff and community volunteers will continue to make a real difference in the management of King Island natural resources. Our environment and community will benefit from the work we do to improve to our unique, beautiful island.
Jennifer Thorn
Chairperson
CHAIR ANNUAL REPORT for 1/7/2020 to 30/6/2021
Changes in 2021
At the end of 2021 we fare-welled Ondrea Richards who had filled the role of project officer for almost seven years and worked very capably, efficiently and with great enthusiasm. After advertising widely we were fortunate to recruit Nathalia Amaral to take on both the Project officer and Weed Crew Supervisor roles. Eve Woolmore , our long term Weed Crew Supervisor will be retiring early in 2022 but has stayed on to ease the transition to new weed crew staff.
We have also updated our website to a new platform and changed our name, from King island Natural Resource Management Group to King Island Landcare Group. This is a reconnection to the origins of Landcare on King Island more than 20 years ago.
Sustainable Agriculture
Beef producers were able to attend field days on pasture production and presentations on animal health and nutrition with The Pasture Pathways project. This was funded by DPIPWE and conducted by Ana Pimenta who generously stepped in when Ondrea resigned.
Currie Wharf Bush restoration
Nathalia has continued this project as project officer. The site was maintained and a new area planted with the help of primary school students. The project was funded by the Communities Environment Program and council. Some field days were cancelled due to COVID and additional funds spent on weeding and
plants.
Weed Crew and Boggy Creek
No major projects were funded in the 2021 financial year but King Island Landcare will be able to continue Inkweed Eradication with a three year control project starting in spring/summer 2021. New staff have been recruited and trained. Spray equipment has been upgraded to ensure the safety of staff. Weed crew costs have risen substantially this year due to increased maintenance and training costs. Private spray jobs were completed and some work was done at Boggy Creek with funds held over from the previous year due to COVID.
Wings On King (WoK) and Birds
WoK surveys were completed even with the challenges presented by COVID. Kate Ravich extended the survey period so that all sites could still be surveyed. A forum on land clearing was also held along with the autumn survey which was very well attended and had a very positive response. In addition, Kate secured finds for new shorebirds signage. The signs were planned in collaboration with Parks and Wildlife officers, Shelley Graham and Ted Bugg. Once again Elders have provided materials at reduced cost.
King Island Council
Council have continued to support our Project Officer position. In addition we have received small grant funds for the Currie wharf bush restoration project. We welcomed Sarina Laidler to our committee as councillor representative.
Cradle Coast NRM
Ana Pimenta has continued in her role on the Cradle Coast NRM Committee. This year Cradle Coast secured funding for surveys of our threatened birds (King Island Brown Thornbill and KI Scrubtit) by ecologist Phil Bell and visiting ornithologists including Mark Holdsworth. Margot Oorebeek, Regional Cat Control Officer also held a zoom presentation for us on the new cat control legislation.
Administration & Website
We have been fortunate to have bookkeeping and admin support from KIRDO staff Lee Jeffries and Michelle Mauric and also KIRDO volunteers especially Fay Pilon. King Island Landcare has made a loss this year in spite of additional income received from Jobkeeper and a COVID cash flow grant. This is partly due to the increasing difficulty in securing grants that cover administration and operational costs.
Thank you
I would like to thank all staff and committee members for their positive attitude, enthusiasm and continued support. I would particularly like to thank Jenny Thorn for her continued involvement and support while travelling off island. Jenny has made invaluable contributions to our website upgrade and submissions to government. Thanks are also due to Lizzie Cambra for taking on the role of secretary.
Helen Strickland
4th November 2021
CHAIR REPORT to 30 June 2020
Tasmanian Landcare Community Group Award
KINRMG received this award in October 2020. Ondrea Richards, Carmen Holloway and Liz Bond represented the group to receive the Landcare award in Hobart. We are still in the running for a national award to be announced in November 2021 (Postponed from 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions). The award was for the Currie Wharf Bush Restoration Project which is outstanding for its high level of community involvement. This success is the result of great work led by Ondrea Richards, an inspired concept from Eve Woolmore and sustained support from community volunteers.
Project Officer
Ondrea has continued to work with students from Ballarat & Clarendon College and KIDHS and community volunteers controlling weeds, looking at waterways and in a beach clean up. Several planned activities were cancelled due to COVID. However student and school interest in our natural environment has been booming. Unfortunately Ondrea has resigned from her position as she is leaving King Island. It will be very difficult to find someone else to carry out her demanding role as enthusiastically & efficiently.
Weed Crew
The Landcare funded Inkweed project was completed in spring & summer. Great progress has been made but we are now looking for follow up funding. ( King Island has the only inkweed incursion in Tasmania). Ongoing weed control and revegetation was carried out for Council, Parks & Wildlife and Sustainable Timber Tasmania along with work for private landowners. Eve Woolmore completed an overhall of our workplace safety policies and procedure; and also a COVID plan when that was needed. There has also been a major tidy up of our offices and equipment by Eve and Margaret Bennett. Michelle Mauric has now tagged items that are hired /loaned out.
WOK and Birds
The WOK spring surveys were all successfully completed under Kate Ravich’s leadership. Visiting surveyors included Fred van Gessel (Australian bird expert and author) and ornithologist Mark Holdsworth. Fred recorded bird calls during his visit and has since donated the files to KINRMG. The survey included a very exciting field trip to find KI Brown Thornbill. “Excellent views were obtained and at one point we had 5 birds in the immediate vicinity at one time which is more than has been recorded previously. ” The autumn survey was scaled back because of COVID restrictions. The survey was possible without visitor participation because there is now a local base of trained keen observers, demonstrating the success of one of WOK’s key objectives.
KINRMG members have also been working with Matthew Fielding (Utas) who is researching the impact of Forest Raven populations on Black Currawongs. Kate gave evidence to the Senate inquiry into ‘Australia’s Faunal Extinction Crisis’ in February. Ash Kennedy has now joined Kate on the Threatened Species Recovery Team (for KI Brown thornbill and Scrubtit).
Acoustic Sensors to monitor fauna activity have been set up on Kate’s property and at Pegarah State forest, with assistance from Nick Cooper (KI Council) and Shelley Graham. This is part of a five year national project conducted by The Australian Acoustic Observatory using 400 continously operating sensors.
King Island Council
Council have continued to support our Project Officer position. In addition we have received small grant funds for the Currie wharf project and a donation of surplus plant seedlings from the works depot. Feedback was provided to Council re the King Island Land Use Plan. Discussions have also been held re KINRM accommodation needs with the projected development of the King Island Community Hub and the possibility that the KIRDO building may be mothballed. Ondrea, Eve and Kate have been working with Council to produce signage re weeds, native plants and animals for Currie harbour.
Cradle Coast NRM
Ana Pimenta was appointed to the management committee of CCNRM this year recognising her agricultural and environmental knowledge experience and expertise. Congratulations Ana. Tom O’Malley, based in Burnie now has responsibility for facilitating sustainable agriculture on King island. He has not yet been able to visit due to COVID.
Admin & Website
Michelle Mauric was able to secure Jobseeker funding for KINRMG for several months. This was very helpful for our weed crew members especially as their work schedule was reduced by COVID. KIRDO has very generously donated 4 hours per week of contracted services during the pandemic.
Michelle has also facilitated Zoom meetings to help cope with restrictions. We are still operating Zoom as an option for our regular meetings as it so convenient for those who live out of town. Zoom has also allowed Jenny Thorn (past Chairperson) to be a regular contributor. Jenny has made a major overhall of our website content in recent months. This was long overdue and it is now much more appealing and so much easier to find out about current projects. A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU JENNY!
Thank you
I would like to thank all staff and committee members for their positive attitude, enthusiasm and continued support. I would particularly like to thank our stalwarts Margaret and Graeme Batey for their dedicated and enthusiastic support of all our activities and concerns.
Helen Strickland
CHAIR REPORT 2018
Regional Landcare Facilitator
KINRM has had a productive 12 months with the final year of our five year, Australian Government sponsored, Regional Landcare Facilitator position being completed. Ana Pimenta completed a very successful 3 years in this role at the end of June.
Ana Pimenta represented KINRM and helped to draft a Biosecurity Plan for King Island. The draft was circulated for comment in October 2017 however the finalised plan has been delayed and is still not available.
Ana has been very successful in obtaining funds for innovative projects
* Regional Soils of King Island tour – With Richard Doyle (UTAS) on the 9th and 10th October. Three soil pits were dug in 3 different soil types and several open cuts and two drainage sites were inspected. There were 21 participants and a lot of new faces which was great.
* Tasmanian Women in Agriculture: 14 & 15 October – This event was a huge success and was fully booked with 36 people attending on the 14th and 33 on the 15th. The tour was inspirational for both visitors and locals. Ana coopted Paige Williams and Nicky Loane to help plan and run the tour.
* KINRM received a $10,000 grant from Landcare Australia for a pilot project “Embracing new technology to improve drainage and soil quality on King Island. A presentation outlining the innovative use of drones to map drainage contours was made at the Beef Day in October 2017. The project was planned for February 2018 but due to unforeseen circumstances was not completed until August 2018.
* Horse info event: 8th & 9th November – delivered by Stuart Myers and Andrew Mclean. Local vet, Cameron Hendricks also gave a small talk about common horse health problems observed on King Island. KINRM had very good feedback about the event. Everyone was very thankful to be able to access this information, and after analysing the evaluation forms, pretty much everyone in the room decided to change practice as a result of attending the event.
* Trip to Flinders Island with a group of farmers in March 2018: 11 members of the benchmarking group travelled plus seven more producers.
* Deer: KINRM have facilitated the establishment of monitoring sites by DPIPWE on landowners properties which deer are known to frequent. This monitoring involves the use of feed stations and sensor cameras and will operate in the 2019 financial year. KINRM worked with DPIPWE to obtain unrestricted deer licences for King Island land managers and owners enabling deer control without any tagging requirement.
Ana’s great work in her RLF position was recognised by becoming a state finalist for the 2018 Agriculture’s Rural Women Award in June.
Project Officer
Ondrea Richards, our project officer has continued weed management and revegetation projects at the Currie Wharf and at Boggy Creek Tufa Terraces.
Boneseed and Polygala infestations in Currie have also been targeted.
These projects have been supported by King Island Council, the Tasmanian Community Fund, Cradle Coast NRM and volunteers from the community, KIDHS and Ballarat & Clarendon College. The level of participation and cooperation with both schools has been outstanding this year.
A new venture for KINRM was a local waste reduction campaign inspired by the “Plastic Free July” concept. Awareness was increased though facebook and Ondrea liased with KIDHS. Highlights included a plastic free lunch week, BYO cup incentive at The Rock Café and tips from Judy Payne on reducing waste.
Ondrea continued liason with King Island Council re their Cat Management Plan.
Ondrea attended the Landcare Gathering in Launceston in December, a valuable opportunity to touch base with many Land carers and gain inspiration from other projects being done. It also highlighted the amount we achieve on King Island with such a small population compared to most similar community groups in mainland Tasmania.
Ondrea also obtained sponsorship from CCNRM to attend the National Coast to Coast Conference in Hobart in April 2018.
Wings on King (WOK) & Birds
An A4 poster of KI birds was developed, funded by Cradle Coast NRM and launched at the King Island Show. A dispenser box was made and has enabled coin donations of over $100 to date.
The You Tube video of the WOK launch was completed and made available on both BOKI and Birdlife Australia websites. We have had very positive feedback on this video, especially re Kate Ravich’s and Rod Graham’s presentations. A council small grant of $2500 was used to complete this video.
Shelley Graham coordinated a spring bird count at Lavinia Reserve in September. A WOK Spring Count was held in November with 27 volunteers participating. 23 bird watchers surveyed 49 sites. There were significantly more locals surveying compared to April 2017.
A very successful Autumn Count was held in April 2018. 28 people in 5 teams surveyed about 48 sites . 13 surveyors were visitors and the remainder were islanders that included a few new faces.
The highlight of the weekend was the ‘Help: I’m Endangered’ exhibition put together by Alison Milsom and contributed to by year 6 down to Kindergarten held at the gallery ‘Artopia.’ Dr Jenny Lau from Birdlife Aus presented the artists with a pin of the Swift Parrot .
This was followed with the documentary ‘The Desperate Plight of the Orange Bellied Parrot’ and an Open Forum on King Island Threatened Birds.
After one year of action – WOK appears to be working. The two primary aims of WoK are:
- To gather data about KI birds to use as a sustainability measure over time. It will take some time yet before we have enough data to show any meaningful patterns, but the process is now well and truly underway.
- Stimulating bird tourism: Reports from tourism, suggest that there are an increasing number of people visiting the island to observe birds. Mark Goode, who provides a 10% discount to people participating in WoK, confirmed that Island Breeze is now getting a number of birding groups staying at Island Breeze who aren’t or don’t claim to be involved with WoK but have come purely to see our birds
Threatened Birds
Following on from the April forum a threatened birds committee was formed . A grant for $10,000 has been obtained from ABEF under the Preventing Extinctions Program to hold an experts workshop in Februaury 2019. Targeted searches for King Island Scrubtit will also be conducted at this time. A young participant in the forum, Pearl Richards, wrote a letter asking for the Prime Minister’s help to save our threatened birds. When no reply was received Pearl then wrote a second letter to Bindi Irwin.
Margaret Bennett attended a special meeting re Threatened Birds in Melbourne with Prof Stephen Garnett and experts from all over Australia.
Weed Crew
Eve Woolmore has continued to coordinate weed crew activities. The weed crew has developed into a highly competent and efficient team under Eve’s leadership and training.
The activities carried out by the weed crew are summarised below:
* King Island Council North Pit vegetation screen (coordinated by Ondrea) – summer watering and follow up plantings in Autumn 2018.
* King Island Council Snodgrass Park tree lane
* Lavinia Reserve– Psoralea control plus some ragwort and thistle control. ..
* Porky Creek Reserve– general weed control.
* Currie Wharf – maintenance of this revegetation project.
* Private Landowners – control of gorse,( including a large infestation on the Sea Elephant River, pampas at the Grassy Mine site, sea spurge , asparagus fern, boxthorn, serrated tussock, slender thistle, periwinkle, turnip weed.
KINRMG were successful in securing a grant of $40,000 from Landcare Australia to follow up the control of Inkweed to take place in the 2019 financial year.
Geology Books
Clive Calver’s books “A guide to the geology of King Island, Parts 1 and 2” have now been printed and are available for sale. The Retail Price is $20 per booklet (or $40 the set). KINRM Members Price is $17 per booklet ( or $32 the set)
King Island Council
KINRM has had very productive discussions with the General Manager, (Troy Brice and Peter Ball) and Mayor ( Duncan McFie) on a range of issues including waste management, cats, dogs and vegetation clearing. KINRM were pleased to have the opportunity to have input into the King Island Council Environmental Management Plan and to have early discussions with Heidi Goess re the draft King Island Land Use Plan.
Cradle Coast NRM
Cradle Coast NRM (Anna Wind, Iona Flett and Jay Rowley) visited King Island in August and ran a presentation on their Marine debris clean up in Macquarie Harbour. They also inspected the Tuffa Terraces, Pegarah State Forest and Porky Beach reserve.
KINRM has worked closely with Cradle Coast NRM preparing the tender for Australian Government Funding for 2018-2023. Projects on King Island involving the Ramsar Wetland and the Critically endangered Hooded Plover are a key part of this tender. The tender submitted in February 2018 was unsuccessful and projects are still being negotiated with the federal government. The outcome of the retender will not be known until late in 2018 or early in 2019.
DPIPWE & Other Visitors
Very productive discussions were held with Tim Baker, (DPIPWE Deputy Secretary) re additional Biosecurity staff needed for King Island, deer management and vegetation clearing permits.
KINRM met with TASSAL representatives to discuss their feasibility studies for salmon farming in King Island waters. KINRM met with two forestry companies re their tenders for harvesting pine plantations at Pegarah State Forest.
Administration
This has been carried out by Michelle Mauric with a very cooperative ’ can do’ attitude to what can be a very complex task for an organisation of our size. Thank you Michelle. A special thanks also to Fay Pilon for helping us out at the KIRDO front desk in any way she can.
Thank you
I would like to thank all staff and committee members for their positive attitude, enthusiasm and continued support. It is impossible to single out any of you because everyone’s contribution is above and beyond what could reasonably be expected.
Helen Strickland
Last Updated on 12 November 2023