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From the Chairman, The Mulloon Institute
November only has 30 days so the end of month appeared to come quickly but I suspect that had more to do with our busyness throughout the month rather than the number of days. Welcome to my end of month update,
Neophyte November.
I must give credit to our Science Advisory Council Chair, Professor Stephen Dovers, for this month's title. "Neophyte" means "new to a subject or entity", "beginner" or "new convert". While I'm fairly confident we have had some "new converts" during November, Stephen's suggestion came as a result of a significant event that occurred on the Home Farm at
Mulloon Creek Natural Farms (MCNF) during November.
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Yellow spotted bell frog prior to release
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Yellow spotted bell frog release
Twenty
yellow spotted bell frogs
have been released into the Mulloon Creek environment by staff from
Taronga Zoo
. This species of frog is currently extinct in the Southern Tablelands due to the chytrid virus and has only survived through a breeding program in captivity at Taronga Zoo. Luckily, the habitat resulting from our repair and rehydration work along Mulloon Creek at the Home Farm, has been identified as the perfect habitat for this species hence the zoo's decision to choose our farm as the location for the first release in the wild.
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Discussing the step diffusion system on sloping country
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Mulloon Creek Field Day 2019
November commenced with our Field Day and in the almost 150 people in attendance I think I can safely say there were a few "neophytes". We had a number of return visitors but overwhelmingly people were visiting for the first time. Feedback on the Field Day's activities was very positive with strong endorsement of our guest presenters, Charlie Massy, Sue Ogilvy, Tony Hill and Walter Jehne. The presentations were followed by over an hour of Q&A. It is always a good sign when we had to bring the discussion to a close to allow people to travel back home. And many had come from far and wide including New Zealand, Singapore and Bowen in Queensland! We look forward to running more Field Days in 2020.
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The Scots College students discussing floodplain soil characteristics
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Students visit Mulloon Creek
Year 12 Plant Production students from
The Scots College
(TSC) visited
Mulloon Creek Natural Farms
during November to learn about soils and how different soil characteristics impact plant growth, water infiltration and soil water holding capacity. We also have a connection with TSC's Bannockburn campus on the NSW south coast for which MCCC have prepared a Landscape Rehydration Plan.
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Pete Hazell enjoying the vibe at Capertee [Photo: Alex Wisser]
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Out and about
While the Field Day was on at Mulloon,
Mulloon Community Landscape Rehydration Project Coordinator Peter Hazell was on the road speaking about the project's journey, from inception to the current on-ground works, at events around NSW. Plus, I had the chance to catchup with singer songwriter and good friend of Tony and Toni Coote, Kevin Welch, at a concert in Canberra.
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Creek intervention being installed
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Mulloon Community Landscape Rehydration Project
Early in November approval for our
Controlled Activity Application (CAA) for the
Palerang property was finally received from the NSW Office of Water, now within the NSW Government's
Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR). We had planned to be on the ground much earlier so when the approval came through Peter Hazell hit the go button and construction of leaky weirs and interventions commenced immediately.
One sole positive for our current dry weather is that these works are happening without any impediments. But some reasonable rain will be sought so the value of the works can be realised. By the end of November, Peter and his team had completed
12 interventions along
2.5 km of creek. This section of the
Mulloon Community Landscape Rehydration Project (MCLRP) will be completed before Christmas so we will be looking for the approval for the
Duralla section of the MCLRP early in 2020.
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Drill rig in operation at Duralla using sonic (vibration) method to extract soil cores
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Science update
Research Coordinator Luke Peel has been busy with coordinating an on-site drilling unit for installing monitoring equipment and taking soil cores, undertaking scientific monitoring as part of our baseline work, taking part in the
Regenerative Agriculture Alliance Government Policy Group
round table at
Southern Cross University
and welcoming hydrologist Tony Bernardi to the TMI team.
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Structure being installed at Mt Pleasant Station
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Mulloon Consulting Contracting & Certifying
It has been a busy month for the team at Mulloon Consulting Contracting & Certifying (MCCC) with completion of the draft detailed design report for the Mount Pleasant Station landscape rehydration demonstration site and community learning hub near Bowen in QLD. This is another great opportunity to spread the word about our landscape repair and rehydration work in North Queensland with NQ Dry Tropics. Anne Gibson has also been busy taking on three site assessment field visits and reports a little bit closer to home, near Albury and Braidwood, with the able support of John Fry.
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Looking towards The Barn from the Peter's Pond corner
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Fire danger
Towards the end of November (and now continuing into December) we have been reminded of the ever existing danger of bushfires with a very large fire burning in the
Tallaganda National Park
to the south east of MCNF's Home Farm.
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2019 Annual General Meeting
Our 2019 Annual General Meeting was a great success, with an overview of the
dynamic year just gone and an emphasis on the increasing momentum surrounding regenerative agriculture and landscape rehydration. We announced several
exciting new appointments, including
Carolyn Hall's new role as CEO of TMI and MCCC, and unveiled our first professionally designed and printed
Annual Report.
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The Mulloon Institute - Rehydrating Australia
(social media version, 2:40mins)
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As we head towards the end of the year I take this opportunity to wish all our supporters a
safe and enjoyable festive season. It is a time for reflection and spending time with family and friends so I trust you all take that opportunity. As with last year I'll combine my December/January updates and report on activities during those months at the end of January. All the very best and thank you for your wonderful support throughout 2019.
Gary Nairn AO
The Mulloon Institute, Chairman
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