North Harcourt & Sedgwick Landcare Group
Our Landcare Area
The North Harcourt-Sedgwick Landcare Group (NHSEL) sits astride the main north – south ridge dividing the Loddon and Campaspe catchments in Central Victoria, 20 kilometres south of Bendigo. The NHSEL covers approximately 12,500 ha. Surrounding Landcare Groups include: Ravenswood LC, Sutton Grange LC, Axe Creek LC, Sheep Wash Creek LC and Harcourt Valley LC Groups.
A Brief History
The North Harcourt-Sedgwick Landcare group was among the first 20 Landcare groups established in Victoria, forming in 1988. Early activities were focused on rabbit control as the most pressing problem. It then moved to assisting landholders with general landscape restoration works. The group ran information sessions and field days for landholders on all topics related to Landcare (e.g. vermin and weed control, water catchments, tree planting and biodiversity), held tree planting days and a number of social activities to foster networking and shared learning between members.
Following a hiatus of several years, the group reactivated in late 2019, with a renewed focus on restoring and caring for our region through sharing information and supporting landholders.
Achievements
One key aspect has been to support landholders with revegetation efforts. Since the early 2000’s for more than a decade NHSEL was involved with the ‘Tree Project’. Local, indigenous seed was collected, propagated by volunteers and then returned as tube stock seedlings to our group members. This saw in excess of 24,000 trees being distributed up until 2015.
In 2015 NHSEL was one of three Landcare groups initiating the ‘40,000 Trees’ planting day which saw 33,000 seedlings being planted across our Landcare area in one single day by more than 500 volunteers, many of them from Melbourne.
More recently, our Pledge to Plant initiative asks landholders to ‘pledge’ how many seedlings they will plant each year, supported by the supply of seedlings at a heavily subsidised rate and with the chance to win a planting day at their property.
In 2022, we launched the Silver Banksia Project, which is ongoing. Silver banksias once thrived in our region but are now very rare. Through the supply of free seedlings and supplies to willing landholders, we are seeking to re-establish a population and monitor their growth. A key part of the project is determining whether seeds from different provenances have different success rates with growth and survival in our region.
With this notable increase in native flora to the area, increases have been observed in the variety and number of birds in the area, as well as the return of echidnas, wallabies and wombats to our Landcare region. This is change on a landscape scale!
Current Objectives and Activities
Our objectives are:
- To care – for the beautiful landscapes of North Harcourt and Sedgwick
- To share – our knowledge, our passion and our efforts
- To restore – by working towards increased bio-diversity in times of climate change.
Activities in recent years include:
- Tree planting activities including Pledge to Plant, the Silver Banksia project and planting days
- Nest Box workshop
- Photography Competitio
- Weed control events
- Guided tours of properties
- Kids nature play day
- Local walks
- Resources list of local reliable information sources
- Providing information and connecting people to other resources through social media
Contact & Membership
To stay in touch with our activities, sign up for our newsletter by becoming a member, or join our facebook group. Or, drop us a line on email with any questions. We welcome new members, and membership is free!
Email: nhselandcare@gmail.com
Membership (Google form): Landcare membership form