4 April 2012 - Dr Bradley Opdyke, from the ANU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, spoke on "Why the future is looking wet for south east Australia".  His presentation focussed initially on climate change over the last 10,000 years, including graphs showing increases in carbon dioxide levels and water temperature over this period.  He detailed the significant retreat of the Arctic ice sheet in the last two decades.  He discussed the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool (the warm ocean region near Indonesia and PNG) and how this is the source of our own rain.  His take-home messages were to expect:

.  higher temperatures, leading to fewer El Nino events and hence fewer dry periods.

.  higher average ocean temperatures, leading to more consistent Summer rain.

.  Winters will continue to warm and be drier than in the 20th Century.

14 February 2012 – Dr Baden Williams, retired CSIRO expert on soil salinity and groundwater chemistry, spoke on the making and use of biochar to improve soil fertility and carbon sequestration.  Having constructed several small-scale biochar production facilities, his finding is that biochar is probably not worth the effort.  On the upside, biochar does sequest carbon and we can earn approx $20 for each tonne of carbon sequested.  But biochar is very expensive to make, transport and use. The overall cost is far greater than the $20 per tonne benefit.  Also it needs a lot of energy to produce anaerobically and currently a lot of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere.  Biochar does have substantial moisture-holding potential because of its very large surface area per volume, however we can gain similar moisture-holding benefits by using compost and mulch which are low-cost solutions.  It appears that biochar will only make economic sense if the carbon price escalates enormously.  This seems unlikely given the ongoing success of R&D into renewable energy sources.

13 December 2011 - Pizza and calzone meeting at the Vincent’s farm.  We discussed the following potential topics to work through for 2012:

18 October 2011 – Dr Brian Cooke, from the Institute of Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, spoke on biological control measures for foxes and rabbits.  His research on rabbit calicivirus has won him world-wide acclaim.  He is working with researchers in Germany and Spain to understand why rabbits are developing resistance to calicivirus and the long-term consequences.  Alternative biological controls are being developed.

9 August 2011 – Dr Brian Murphy, senior soil scientist in the Department of Premier and Cabinet (in Cowra), spoke on managing the challenges of soil degradation – moving on from soil conservation practices of the past.  The Department has developed a new Land and Soil Capability (LSC) scheme, which evaluates soil degradation on a broad basis encompassing climate limitation, water and wind erosion, soil structure, organic matter, soil carbon decline, terrain type, salinisation, stoniness, soil fertility, soil acidity, water-holding capacity and flood hazard.  These criteria allow land to be allocated one of eight classes.  Higher LSC number indicates a higher level of input, expertise and investment to manage the land well.  See separate report.

14 June 2011 – Dr Penny Olsen OAM, noted ornithologist, author and Visiting Fellow at ANU, gave a talk on raptors in the Sutton region, including ways to identify various birds of prey (high fliers, skulkers, hoverers, and owls), their roles, and their conservation.  See separate report.

12 April 2011 – John Weatherstone, gave an illustrated talk on farm trees, based on his experiences at his property Lyndhurst Park near Gunning.  His talk covered direct seeding, the benefits of planting wattles, the importance of mounting up tubestock, the need for some deciduous trees, the overemphasis of plants trees with local provenance, and the importance of building habitat value.  See separate report.

22 February 2011 – Jacqui Stoll, from CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, gave a presentation on how to improve biodiversity in the paddock, with emphasis on the role of native pastures in maintaining native biodiversity and healthy landscapes.

14 December 2010 – Working bee at “Sutton Common”.   Despite the wet weather, some spraying and weeding of Sutton Common was undertaken before the annual Christmas meeting and discussion of topics for next year.

9 October 2010 – Soils Workshop, hosted by David and Jane Vincent, chief presenter Dr Maarten Stapper.  Dr Stapper gave a broad-ranging introductory session on soil chemistry and soil characteristics in the local region.  Points included depleted carbon levels, the need for microbes, and the disadvantages of nitrogen and phosphorus-rich fertilizers.  He also touched on the negative aspects of genetically-modified crops and the wide use of antibiotics in commercial farming.  David Vincent led a session on dry compost, compost tea making, and worm farming.  See separate report.

10 August 2010 – Dr Albert van Dijk, and Linda Kuil, from CSIRO’s Division of Land and Water spoke on research into water availability in the Murray-Darling Basin.  The main focus was on dams and river flows in the Murrumbidgee and Yass regions.   Most research was on hydrology and the size of dams.  Sustainability of water sources was not addressed because that is a socio-political matter outside the scope of the CSIRO studies.  See separate report.

31 May 2010 – Clem Davis, visiting Fellow at the ANU, spoke on Climate Drivers for SE Australia.  His talk covered the basic factors driving global weather patterns, then moved on to more local factors  - the effects of the El Nino/La Nina Southern Oscillation, Indian Ocean sea surface temperatures and so on.  Included was the cool easterly change enjoyed by Canberra on summer evenings.  See separate report.

13 April 2010 – Alison Elvin, a noted local expert on wetland ecology.  She spoke on plants for dams and wetlands, their identification and roles.  There was a follow-up field trip on 17 April 2010 involving visits to McLaughlan’s Creek at Sutton Oval, and a dam on the Malam’s property.  Alison identified plants growing there and explained how plants can be added to improve water quality and biodiversity outcomes.  See separate report.

 9 February 2010 – Dr Don Fletcher and Claire Wimpenny, experts in Eastern Grey Kangaroo ecology and management from the ACT Parks Conservation and Lands Department. 

There was a wide range of views in the community on the contribution of kangaroos to the sustainability of our grassy box woodland and farming environment and the appropriateness of the local kangaroo population.  For this reason, more than 50 people attended, many being members of Wildcare, a wildlife protection group.  Discussion was animated to say the least.  The ACT Government’s agenda covers population dynamics, fertility control, monitoring urban movements, and the effects of management treatments on surrounding grasslands and woodlands.   See separate report.

8 December 2009 – Christmas meeting at Vincent’s farm, with wood-fired pizza and calzone.  Watched the Peter Cundall video Patch from Scratch.  This demonstrated how to set up an organic vegetable garden, rotate beds, companion planting, fertile soil and how to keep away pests and diseases.

21 October 2009 – YAN Seminar, Your land, Your Soil and Your Future, Yass Memorial Hall

The seminar was very well organised (mostly by Jane and David Vincent), was attended by about 250 people, and the food was excellent.  The eleven speakers covered a wide range of topics, including the importance of organic carbon, the benefits and dangers of organic farming, natural sequence farming, holistic farming, worm farms, biodynamics, and compost tea.   See separate report.

 18 August 2009 – Dr David Shorthouse, Visiting Fellow at the ANU's Fenner School of the Environment and Society, presented on two projects involving both the Mulligan’s Flat and Goorooyarroo nature reserves.  The Mulligan’s Flat Woodland Sanctuary is healthy Box Gum woodland that sustains a good representation of woodland plants and animals.  This provides an excellent scientific reference for ecosystem restoration and hence good educational and ecotourism opportunities. 

David also spoke about the Greater Goorooyarroo Box-gum Woodland Recovery project.  This project’s long term vision is to connect the 6000 ha of restored Box-gum woodland with the 35000 ha rural matrix, bounded by the Federal Highway, Barton Highway and Nanima Road.  Although funding for this proposal was unsuccessful in a recent Caring for Country application, it is hoped that his visionary project can move forward with the potential of smaller grants.  See separate report.

 9 June 2009 - Emma Keightley from ACT and Region Frogwatch spoke to the group.  After the talk Emma answered questions and Graham Moseley told about his experiences doing the frog census.  In September a training session is held for people interested in the October Frogwatch census.  Emma distributed posters showing frogs of the local area.

Since her talk Emma has sent Sutton school a free schools kit with a CD of frog calls.

 14 April 2009 - Dr. George Main, a curator from the National Museum of Australia. He spoke about a new gallery called Creating a Country – History and Place which is currently being developed –  George focussed on two areas to be included: The Gundary Plains south of Goulburn and the Wagga Wagga area. He showed images of artefacts, letters, photos etc which will be included in the exhibition and read from letters by early settlers in the 1820’s of the abundance of wildlife, practices of the local Aboriginal people, changes brought about by grazing and the coming of the railways etc. etc. George explained how the gallery will take about three years to research and construct.

February 2009 - Dr Jonathon Banks, ex-CSIRO entomologist - organic orchardist from Piallago, spoke on beneficial and problem insects.   His presentation covered how to use strategically beneficial insects and simple low-cost procedures to maintain fruit yields and eliminate the need for chemical sprays to control problem diseases and pests.  See separate report.

9 December 2009 – Pizza and calzone meeting at the Vincent’s farm.  Watched the DVD  The Good Earth on Farmer Brown.

14 October 2008 –Joanna Pajkowska and Tatjana Nedelkoska, environmental scientists from the Private Land Conservation and Stewardship section of the Department of the Environment on Biobanking (Sydney).  The biobanking scheme provides ongoing financial payments to farmers to enhance conservation farming on their land.

12 August 2008 - John Feehan OAM, a world expert on dung beetles, gave a presentation on the benefits of using dung beetles, including species for our own area.  He brought along physical displays of bung beetles and dung beetle tunnels.  He offered a free beetle ID service.  See separate report.

11 June 2008 - Adam Muyt on Biodiversity Stewardship Incentives Scheme and its replacement the Grassy Box Woodland Stewardship Program

 
30 April 2008 - Carbon Trading Seminar organised by Yass Area Network.

27 October 2007 – Early morning guided nature walk by Rainer Rehwinkel and Mike Coley on the Yellow Box-Blakely’s Red Gum grassy woodland east of Sutton school.  Included descriptions of trees and grasses, and several varieties of birds.  BBQ breakfast.  See separate report.

 October 2007 – Charles Wilcocks, on biosecurity and climate variability.

14 August 2007 – Owen Whittaker on Biodiversity.

12 June 2007 – George Gundry on The Real Business of Agriculture.  George spoke about the economic benefits of running a grazing property while following holistic farming principles.

17 April 2007 – Natural Sequence Farming

13 February 2007  – Ben Cavuoto from Greening Australia, assisted by Sarah Fethers from the National Botanic Gardens.  A seed collection workshop at Sutton Common.

November 2006  – Ben Cavuoto from Greening Australia. Seeds for Survival workshop at the National Botanic Gardens.

12 September 2006 – Alyssa Schembri from NSW Weed Warriors in Orange – an initiative aimed at primary aged students on the breading and releasing of biological control agents to suppress weed species in the local area.

5 June 2006 – Ian MacArthur, Executive Officer of the Southern Tablelands Farm Forestry Network.  He explained the increasing demand for wood fibre goods from Australia, China and India.  The STFF Network members grow native, exotic and pine species in varying sized areas and with different aims.  The Network provides advice and support.

4 April 2006 – Dr Rebecca Montague-Drake, Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies ANU, on the Role of Native Vegetation and the Effect it has on Wildlife.  She spoke about the studies of David Lindenmayer and his group into animals and plants in local woodlands.  She presented our Group with a copy of Woodlands: a disappearing landscape.

28 February 2006 – Dr Delia Catacutin, World Agroforestry Centre spoke on Landcare activities in the Philippines.  The Australian Landcare initiative is slowly spreading all over the world, including both developed and developing countries.  An international steering committee has been set up to promote Landcare International.

11 October 2005 -  Jen Hardwicke, Dept of Agriculture Queanbeyan, on benchmarking and understanding soil chemistry.  The first of four 3-hour workshops.

August 2005 – Lesley Gilligan, workshop on native plants, demonstrating the pros and cons of planting out already germinated plants and cuttings.

7 June 2005 – David Pearce, The Centre for International Economics, spoke on:  Water – who wins and who loses in a scare world.  He addressed three main areas:  how water is currently used and shared, the Pratt Review, and an ACTEW study on urban and rural water issues in the Murrumbidgee Catchment Area.

7 April 2005 – John Dalton, NSW Landcare Coordinator, gave a presentation at the Back Creek Fire Shed on changes in the structure of Landcare and the role of Catchment Management Authorities.

12 October 2004 – Dr Michael Roderick and Graham Farquhar from ANU, on climate change and the surface water balance.

3 August 2004 – John Franklin and Brad Parker from DIPNR in Yass spoke on the GIS mapping system which allowed various existing maps (property boundaries, remnant vegetation, salinity etc) to be looked at individually or overlaid to create a total profile of an area.

1 June 2004 – Peter Hazel and his wife Dr Donna Hazel presented on natural sequence farming, the chain-of-ponds system, and how these might be initiated locally.  Peter distributed copies of an article on Natural Sequence Farming from Irrigation Australia.

27 March 2004 – Owen Pidgeon, Loriendale Orchard, Hall provided a guided tour of his organic orchard and discussed the philosophies underpinning organic farming.

3 February 2004 – Rebecca Glasgow, Landcare Community Support Officer in Yass briefed the meeting on local projects.  Dave Hunter discussed the loss of habitat of frogs over the past 20 years, and explained research into the spread of a fungus that is killing frogs.

18 October 2003 - John Weatherstone   12 members of Sutton Landcare Group combined with  Taylors Creek Landcare  for a field trip to Lyndfield Park, John Weatherstone’s 300 hectare property 9km from Gunning.  A showcase property for tree planting, land management and sustainability.  See separate report.

5 August 2003 - Gerry Gillespie, Regional Manager of the South East Office of Resource NSW based in Queanbeyan, spoke to the meeting. He outlined his background and changes in community and local councils’ attitudes to waste. Details were given of the economic costs of landfills compared with recycling options. Initiatives being trialled by Queanbeyan City Council include combining biosolids and green waste for use by their Parks Dept. Gerry showed samples and told us about recycling trials and local small scale industries in Asian countries.

3 June 2003 - Dave Hunter from the University of Canberra and National Parks and Wildlife Service spoke to the group and showed slides of Snakes, Lizards and Frogs of the Canberra region.  He covered identification, habits, habitat & threats as well as telling us about his field work and research. Dave answered lots of questions from the adults and children present.

1 April 2003 - We watched a 30 minute video on Salinity courtesy of Jane Vincent and the CIT library.

24 September 2002 - Nikki Taws from Greening Australia spoke about her role and the results of the Birdwatch Program in this area. Aim to assess the effectiveness of GA’s activities in the past 20 years in revegetation, vegetation management and remnant vegetation protection. Presence of birds used as an indicator of vegetation health. 132 sites surveyed, 100 revegetated, 32 control. Top twenty birds found were all native & small insectivorous birds. Birds need diversity of structure – age, size, species, connections etc. Windbreaks need to be wider than 25m and patch sizes 2ha or more.

8 August 2002 - Teresa Rose from DLWC in Cooma gave a talk illustrated by maps and slides. She explained her last 3.5 years working on the Benchmarking Project to monitor environmental flows in the Snowy River.

Interesting statistics:  Snowy River below Jindabyne dam is 350 km. Since dam built in 1967 water flows have decreased to 45 megalitres a day which is 1% of the original flow. Huge changes to the hydrology & ecology of the river in NSW & Vic. Hope is to increase the flow to 28%, with a spring flush to mimic the natural snowmelt. First flow release from Mowamba Weir will be an extra 3% on 28^th August.

4 June 2002 - Stuart Pengelly, Rivercare Officer from Queanbeyan gave an illustrated talk about willows. He spoke about recent awareness of the willow problem, which willows need to be removed, why and how. Stuart then discussed other land management issues for riparian zones – gorse removal, stock access, water flow, erosion control, replanting etc.

19 May 2002 - combined Weeds Field Day with Gundaroo Landcare

Speakers: Geoff Butler, Neville Plumb & Jane Vincent

Weed ID walk on Gundaroo Common followed by BBQ lunch.

26 March 2002 - General meeting followed one hour of weeding and rubbish removal from Sutton Common. Too wet to use poison so we dug out weeds. Main weeds – pine & cootamundra wattle seedlings, firethorn & briar rose. Main rubbish – wire, old fence posts, papers & cans.

5 February 2002 - Matthew Smyth from the CSIRO Division of Entomology spoke about biological control of weeds.  He concentrated on his area of study which is Patersons curse.

7 August 2001 - Myriam Bormans from CSIRO spoke on  How to manage blue-green algal blooms in rivers and small reservoirs. Myriam included theory, experimental results and practical suggestions for landowners.

5 June 2001 - Rainer Rehwinkel from NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Threatened Species Unit showed slides and answered questions about the flora and fauna of grassy woodlands in the Southern Tablelands.

He discussed options for the ‘Sutton Common’ including using the land as part of the Greenways Project or changing the status of the land from a vacant crown reserve. Rainer briefly outlined the process followed to form Brooks Hill Trust near Bungendore. Rainer and Ray Malam are to find out more details concerning these options.

13^th February 2001-  Rainer Rehwinkel from the Threatened Species Unit of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, lead a field trip on the grassy woodland area behind Sutton School.

Rainer covered the topics:

                   What is a grassy ecosystem ?

                   Grasslands and grassy woodland remnants

                   Why are grasslands important ?

                   Options for conservation

                   How does the grassy remnant at Sutton fit into the bigger picture ?

He explained the species lists and graphs on his handouts.

Katie Hollingsworth distributed a handout on Tree Identification prepared by Jacquie White.

We then walked around the area whilst Rainer located and identified a variety of native and introduced flora.

5 December 2000 - Ian Laurie from Ivey ATP – Agricultural & Management Consultants in Wellington spoke, then helped members individually complete the survey Study into the costs of dryland salinity on agricultural landholders. This project is being funded by the Murray Darling Basin Commission and the NDSP.

4 October 2000 - Dr. Arnold Dekker from CSIRO Division of Land & Water, showed how water quality can be recorded using standard, aerial and false colour satellite images. He explained current Australian projects measuring changes to water quality and discussed reasons for changes. Arnold answered questions and with Katie Hollingsworth outlined the steps we should be taking to care for our land & water resources.

2 August 2000 - Clem Davis from the Bureau of Meteorology spoke to the meeting.  His talk covered the areas:  Structure of the Bureau, What is weather?  Forecasting weather, Risk management for farmers, El Nino & La Nina, Greenhouse Effect, Changes in weather patterns in South Eastern Australia.

June 2000  -  Ben Haseler, tree planting discussion and walk on Dick Smith’s property (Bowylie).  Included his advice after planting 130ha of trees over six years.  See separate report.

14 June 2000 - David Rouse, Director of Environment and Development for Yarrowlumla Shire Council explained the just-released Yarrowlumla Shire Council’s Local Environment Plan.

David covered the following areas:

. Why an updated plan was necessary

. Procedure followed so far and steps still to come.

. Changes to the 1993 plan and examples showing why they were necessary.

. Main areas covered by the 2000 LEP.

5 April 2000 - Simon Lang, Greening Australia’s Riparian Willow Project Co-ordinator was our speaker for the evening.  His talk, illustrated by slides, covered willow types, problems and control methods.  See separate report.

6 October 1999 -   Sue Briggs from NSW National Parks and Wildlife.  Sue showed slides and spoke about the current project she directs to assess the populations and habitat needs of various bird species in remnant woodlands of Central Western NSW.

4 August 1999 -   Joyce Wilkie   

After the general SLG meeting closed at 8pm we drove to Gundaroo to hear Gundaroo Landcare’s Guest Speaker.  Joyce Wilkie is a local organic farmer.  She spoke about nutrient cycling in the care and management of soils.

6 June 1999 - Bill Schumann from the Department of Agriculture in Queanbeyan spoke about acid soils, their identification, and the effects of spreading lime.

7 April 1999 - Guest speakers from Farming For the Future were Stuart McMahon, based in Queanbeyan, and Geoff O’Connor in the Goulburn/Moss Vale area. Their presentation covered:  What is Farming For the Future, what are the issues, what is the landholder’s role, and the Property Management Plan Concept. 

Issues we raised included:  containing overheads, small land areas, weeds, establishing vegetation, not enough people involved in Landcare, foxes impact on lambs, lack of shelter, and land degradation - salinity, gullies, soil structures, dieback.

Stuart McMahon outlined costs and content of the 2-session and 8-session Farming For the Future courses.  He then explained how other Groups have organised and benefitted from the program.

15 September 1998 – A general meeting focussing on Rivercare funding proposals.  Yass Landcare Coordinator, Katie Hollingsworth, then discussed salinity issues, distributed new salinity assessment sheets devised by Catchment Planning Officer Annabel Kater, and showed the location of saline sites in the local area on the CD-ROM  State of the Environment 1997 Australian Capital Territory, and on Annabel’s large maps. 

28 July 1998 – general meeting to discuss Rivercare funding applications, the impending withdrawal of the herbicide Frenock from the Australian market, licensing of farm dams, and to examine aerial photographs of local saline sites.

12 May 1998 - newly appointed Catchment  Planner, Annabel Kater, gave a presentation on her role and the role of Landcare groups in the Catchment Planning structure, and on the different levels of planning and liaison with Councils and Governments.  She also discussed new water reforms.

10 February 1998 – Yass Area Landcare Coordinator, Annabel Kater, explained the various Rivercare and Heritage Trust grants available.  Three applications were agreed for lodgement.

26 November 1997 – a river walk along sections of the Yass River and McLoughlan’s Creek near the village to identify likely areas for future rehabilitation work.

29 October 1997 – First independent meeting.  Rod Gorman from the Department of Agriculture gave a lecture and demonstration on weeds.

28 July 1997 – Group members attended the Gundaroo Landcare meeting to hear a presentation by John Feehan on dung beetles.

23 June 1997 – Sutton Landcare Group formed under the umbrella of the Sutton & District Community Association.  Initial focus to be on weeds, trees and river care.

24 April 1997 – a public meeting from which arose an interim steering committee to examine the viability of a Sutton Landcare Group.  Ray Malam (chairman), Jane Nock and Paul Kable (members).