A week–long celebration of Landcare

Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister, Luke Hartsuyker, today encouraged Australians to get behind National Landcare Week and thank our Landcarers for their valuable work protecting, restoring and sustaining Australia’s natural resources.

 

“Landcarers are an invaluable asset to farmers, land managers and the environment, making a huge difference to the quality of our soils, water, vegetation and biodiversity,” Minister Hartsuyker said.

 

“This week is another opportunity to say thank you, and recognise that they give up so much of their valuable time to care for our natural resources—and this delivers many flow on benefits to regional communities and our economy.

 

“There would be no Landcare without the army of volunteers on the ground.

 

“They have helped ensure the Landcare movement is as strong as ever after 25 years, with 100,000 Landcarers and around 5400 Landcare and Coastcare groups.

 

“The Australian Government is a strong supporter of the National Landcare Program and its importance to our agricultural industries, underlined by our more than $1 billion investment in Landcare through the 2017–18 Budget.

 

“Another way we recognise Landcarers is through the National Landcare Awards.

 

“Nominations are nearly closed for the 2017 State and Territory Landcare Awards—with the Northern Territory and Queensland closing today and Tasmania on 15 September.

 

“We have encouraged people to nominate, with all state and territory winners going on to be finalists at the 2018 National Landcare Awards.

 

“I have seen firsthand how valuable the work of Landcarers is, right across the country.

 

“Over the past four months I’ve visited 13 National Landcare Program sites, looking at work to address issues such as Queensland’s biggest land degradation challenge, erosion caused by high intensity summer rainfall, susceptible soils and varying ground cover, along with work on mixed soil type farms in central NSW.”

 

For more about Landcare visit http://www.nrm.gov.au/national-landcare-programme.