The winners of this year’s Wodonga Urban Landcare Network awards were announced at the recent AGM and Spring Network Gathering, where the Annual Report for 2024, detailing our activities for the last financial year, was also presented.
Congratulations to this year’s award winners:
WULN Community Group Award
This award acknowledges a WULN group that has inspired and involved community participation in Landcare. They will have delivered projects that have achieved environmental outcomes that protect, enhance, or restore the natural values of an area on behalf of the wider community. Work undertaken by the group will have been guided by an action plan, which is aligned to broader local, state, and federal government plans. They will have achieved their outcomes through partnerships with key others such as Wodonga Council, NECMA, schools, businesses, and other Landcare groups. They will have implemented strategies to overcome challenges such as attracting and retaining volunteers, weather events, and the changing climate. They keep their members informed of the group’s activities and those of WULN and actively liaise with and offer support to other groups in the network.
2024 recipients: Friends of Willow Park is a founding member of WULN, having been established in 2012, and has worked in collaboration with Wodonga Council, NECMA, and other environmental groups to initially save Willow Park from development and restore it, creating wildlife corridors and amenities for the broader community and running education and engagement events.
Friends of Willow Park was established in 2006 following a widespread community response to save Willow Park from development. Formed to proactively work to protect, restore, and create wildlife corridors in the park, the group initiated the first community-led master plan for the park, developing strong collaborative relationships with Council and NECMA as part of that process. Recognising the need for more stewardship groups within the municipality, WULN became a founding member of WULN, auspicing the Network until it became incorporated. Regular working bees and running education and engagement events have been ongoing features of the group’s activities.
WULN Quiet Achiever Award
This award acknowledges an individual who has shown outstanding leadership and commitment to Landcare. Through their actions, they will have had a positive impact on land management practices through on-ground activities and by creating awareness of the environment and sustainable land management in their community. They will have worked within limited resources to encourage others in the community to be involved and will have actively facilitated their participation and awareness.
2024 recipient: Jude Scarfe has been involved with WULN since its inception. Jude has served on the WULN committee in both executive and general committee positions, during which time she took a lead in developing the Network’s policies. She was instrumental in establishing and coordinating Friends of Susan Campbell & Kent McKoy Reserves before handing over the coordinator role and establishing and coordinating Friends of McMahons Gully. Jude also volunteers with Friends of Federation Hill and is currently the president of Our Native Garden Nursery. Jude has shown enormous commitment and demonstrated leadership in establishing and supporting a number of Landcare groups locally.
Community Engagement in Waterways Excellence Award
This award acknowledges a group or individual who has contributed to the significant improvement of a waterway environment through the use of community engagement. Associated activities may include restoration of a waterway, protection of a threatened species, removing invasive species that are impacting native flora and fauna, plastic and waste removal, or mitigating urban impact on waterway environments. The group or individual will have increased community awareness and engagement with a particular waterway issue, including engaging people who have not typically been involved in environmental volunteering. Citizen science forms an important part of their waterway actions and engagement strategies.
2024 recipients: Friends of David Winterbottom Park have worked tirelessly over a number of years to improve the area around Huon Creek in Wodonga. The group has faced a number of challenges, including declining volunteer numbers, multiple flooding events, and damage to infrastructure. Despite this, FoDWP has regrouped, refocused, and, following extensive woody weed control on Council land, has also engaged with the broader community, growing volunteer numbers, increasing awareness of the issues with woody weeds on waterways, and collaborating with private property owners to improve the Huon Creek environs.
Community Engagement in Wildlife Habitats Excellence Award
This award acknowledges a group or individual who has made an outstanding contribution to protect, enhance or restore wildlife habitats through community engagement. The group or individual will have worked with limited resources to foster increased participation and awareness of wildlife habitats, especially amongst the broader community. Associated activities may include the establishment of wildlife-friendly habitats on public or private land; the removal of invasive species threatening wildlife habitats; raising community awareness of the importance of wildlife-friendly habitats; and advocacy for the retention or establishment of wildlife habitat.
2024 recipients: Friends of the WREN (Baranduda) works in collaboration with the Council to plan, manage, weed, plant, and engage with the community about the importance of the Wodonga Retained Environment Network (WREN).
The WREN is a network of vegetated corridors and patches within the Baranduda-Leneva Valley. This network links the Baranduda Range, Bears Hill, Federation Hill, and the Kiewa River floodplain, allowing movement of wildlife across an urban environment.
The large, old, hollow-bearing trees, along with the connecting younger tree plantings, provide habitat for a diversity of wildlife, many of which are threatened with extinction.
Community Partnerships Award
This award acknowledges an individual or group that has demonstrated leadership and achievement in landcare-related activities as a result of working in partnership with others in their community. The individual or group will have established collaborative relationships with other groups or organisations in order to plan and deliver activities that have contributed to positive on-ground outcomes and/or led to greater participation and involvement by people from the broader community. They will have achieved notable milestones through these partnerships and will be taking action to sustain these alliances.
2024 recipients: Turtles Albury Wodonga works tirelessly to raise awareness of the plight of the three species of local turtle in Wodonga. The group has created long-standing partnerships with:
-Wildlife rescue organisations and local vet clinics.
-Wodonga Council, including involvement in joint projects at Sumsion Gardens, which have seen the installation of signage, education and engagement events, and habitat enhancement for turtles.
-La Trobe University, through research collaborations with Dr. James van Dyke and Dr. Ligia Pizzato do Prado.
-Duduroa Dhargal Aboriginal Corporation with joint surveys at Ryans Lagoon.
-Involvement in the nationally recognised 1 Million Turtles Program.
