The Yass Area Network of Landcare Groups (YAN) was proud to be represented at this year’s National Landcare Conference, where Gill Hall and Sarah McGrath presented an engaging session on “Future-Proofing Landscapes: Climate Ready Revegetation in Action” as part of the Nature Repair & Climate Adaptation stream.

With over 650 participants attending the conference, the room was full for their session. It was great to see the enthusiasm for the topic. The presentation sparked plenty of interest and conversation, even catching the attention of conference MC Costa Georgiadis, who shared some of the session’s key messages with the main plenary audience, highlighting the impact and community-driven effort behind Climate Ready Revegetation.

Gill opened the session by taking attendees through the history and evolution of the Climate Ready Revegetation (CRR) program, explaining how it connects local action with climate science. The presentation outlined the key steps involved, from understanding our future climate analogues, to selecting species, using new online planning tools, and managing seed provenance sourcing and nursery distribution.

At its heart, Climate Ready Revegetation aims to introduce genetic diversity into revegetation projects, helping to ensure that the plants we put in the ground today will remain resilient across generations of changing conditions.

Sarah then shared YAN’s on-the-ground learnings from the program and offered insights for other Landcare groups looking to apply climate-ready principles to their own regions. She emphasised that making revegetation resilient means thinking long-term, about the future climate, species diversity, and the community effort needed to sustain it.

“Significant resources go into revegetation,” Sarah noted. “By combining science with community passion, we can boost genetic diversity and build true resilience into our landscapes.”

Guided by climate projections and supported by dedicated volunteers, the Yass Valley’s CRR program grows and plants thousands of climate-ready tubestock each year, embedding this innovative approach into core Landcare activities.

The high level of interest from across Australia was wonderful to see, and a reminder that community-led science and collaboration are at the heart of climate adaptation.

>> See the presentation here
>> Learn more about Climate Ready Revegetation

Recently, a group of dedicated volunteers came together for one of the most important and often overlooked steps in our Climate Ready Revegetation (CRR) program: seed sorting. The seeds prepared on the day are now being sown in our community Landcare nurseries in Yass, Murrumbateman, and Bowning/Bookham, as well as at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC), where they will be grown into seedlings and returned for planting in autumn.

This activity sits at the very heart of our mission to grow climate-ready plants. Seeds for each species are carefully sourced from multiple provenances to maximise genetic diversity. With genetic diversity, we are equipping future generations of plants with the capacity to adapt to a changing climate, ensuring the long-term success of local revegetation projects.

On the day, a cheerful team of volunteers combined seeds from an average of 7 sources for each of the 40 local native species on our Climate Ready nursery list. Thousands upon thousands of seeds were checked, sorted, and measured into tiny pots, each pot containing the beginnings of a future tree, shrub, or grass that will help restore and protect our landscapes. Labels were carefully triple-checked, records updated, and everything prepared with precision so that our nurseries can sow with confidence.

Seed sorting is just one stage in the CRR process, which begins with species selection by the CRR team, followed by seed collection from geographically diverse suppliers. Each seed lot is tested by volunteers for germination to ensure viability before mixing. Together, these steps ensure the plants we raise are strong, healthy, and genetically diverse, giving our revegetation projects the best possible chance to thrive and adapt for decades to come.

A huge thank you goes out to all the volunteers who contributed their time, care, and attention to detail at the seed sorting day. These efforts are essential to the success of the program and will continue through the growing and planting stages in the months ahead.

If you’d like to get involved, each of our nurseries runs volunteer sowing days and seasonal activities, and next year, you can help plant these climate-ready seedlings into the ground. Together, we’re growing a resilient future for our landscapes.

Find out more about the Climate Ready Revegetation

Written by Sarah McGrath, YAN Local Coordinator

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The Climate Ready Revegetation Project has been assisted by the NSW Government through its Environmental Trust. Landcare Australia Michael King grants enable us to purchase seed from diverse provenances.

Spring is here, and at the YAN Landcare nurseries, that means one thing: it’s time for our seed-sowing working bees. We're calling on all Landcare members to lend a hand, and with three nurseries to choose from, there's a spot for everyone.

When you join us, you’ll be handling some truly special seeds. Our seed collections have a significant backstory, aimed at helping the Yass Landscape adapt to our changing climate.

An enormous amount of careful thought goes into this. We select local species that are more likely to survive in a hotter future, and we source seed from a range of provenances to maximise genetic diversity. These two strategies are how we make our YAN Landcare nursery tubestock climate ready.

To integrate these climate-ready principles into our work takes a large team of people contributing in a variety of ways. There are regular seasonal activities, such as sowing seed and planting tubestock, as well as many ongoing behind-the-scenes tasks, like species assessment, seed sourcing and communications.  The many elements of the work are captured in the image below.

This is meaningful and enjoyable work, and new volunteers are always welcome! Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss how you can get involved.

Some of the upcoming Nursery Sowing Days

> Bowning Bookham Landcare - 26 Oct, Wattle Valley Nursery, Nursery Seeding Day 

> Yass Landcare - 13 & 27 Sep, Yass Landcare Community Nursery, Nusery Seeding Party

> Murrumbateman Landcare

All other dates can be found on the YAN Calandar

Written by Sonya Duus, Project officer, Climate Ready Revegetation

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The Climate Ready Revegetation Project has been assisted by the NSW Government through its Environmental Trust. Landcare Australia Michael King grants enable us to purchase seed from diverse provenances.

Each year, numerous landholders embark on a journey to revegetate their local landscapes with 'climate-ready' tubestock, grown from carefully sourced seeds by dedicated volunteers at the YAN Landcare nurseries.

Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting two different landholders to check out their 2024 plantings and explore the many and various factors that influence whether their plants are thriving or struggling.

They were enjoyable and fascinating conversations, and a powerful reminder that we are all deeply intertwined with our local environment; even our seemingly small decisions and actions can dramatically shape local ecological outcomes.

These landholders were among the first to commit to monitoring their plantings over the next few years. Each year they will take a couple of photos and check the survival of their plantings. This will be vital feedback for our hard-working nursery volunteers, and it will help us refine our approach, ensuring we're growing the right species and providing the best possible information to everyone receiving plants. If you would like to monitor your plantings from this year, please get in touch!

Some of the strong messages from the visits included:

- Tree guards are really important, even when there are no livestock! Kangaroos and other wildlife can eat and trample both plants and small tree guards. There was a very noticeable difference in survival between those plants that were protected, and those that weren’t. Sturdy cardboard, corflute and/or wire guards can all be appropriate depending on your situation.

- Visit your plantings. Take delight in your hard work and the difference you’re making. Remember that even small adjustments to tree guards, or noticing when extra water is needed, can pay off in the long run.

- A bit of extra water can go a long way. If there is a hot dry spring and/or summer following planting, young plants may need a top up of water.

- Plant the right species in the right landscape position. Some species tolerate wet feet, others need excellent drainage, etc. You will see the best results when you do a bit of planning, drawing on information in the Murrumbateman Landcare planting guide or similar resources.

- Complement remnant vegetation. We can supercharge our plantings by placing them strategically near existing native vegetation. For instance, you can plant close enough to remnants to provide excellent habitat for native animals, while being mindful not to negatively impact mature trees by planting too close.

- Ripping on the contour. If you’re planting a lot of tubestock, ripping can make it easy to plant and help plants get established.

- Even a small number of well positioned plants can make a big difference. It only takes a few plants to provide food, shade and shelter to animals travelling through a landscape.

At one property, we were treated to a magical sight: two scarlet robins and a golden whistler feeding right next to the new plantings. It wasn't hard to imagine these spectacular birds making full use of their new habitat in just a few years' time.

Written by Sonya Duus, Climate Ready Revegetation Project Officer

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The Climate Ready Revegetation Project has been assisted by the NSW Government through its Environmental Trust. Landcare Australia Michael King grants enable us to purchase seed from diverse provenances.