During February and March, Glenn Gale, Executive Officer for LASA, visited several landcare groups in the Northern and Yorke and the Eyre Peninsula Regions. Glenn said that the Regional visits enabled him to meet with and listen to landcare groups on their patch and are an important part of his role.

The visits enabled Glenn to see some of the projects groups are working on and to listen face to face with group members about issues that concern them as well as their past achievements and future plans. It comes as no surprise that one of the major issues for many groups is the lack of availability of grant funds. Group management and maintaining membership and enthusiasm are also matters of concern to many groups.

While in the Northern and Yorke Region Glenn was able to attend the successful Feral February event organised by the Yacka Moorundie Landcare Group and see some of their on-ground projects. Tarcowie Landcare Group members June Jenkins and Kieran Brewer showed Glenn some of the highly successful revegetation that the Group has done over many years. The carefully designed plantings have enable the suppression of wild oats and other weeds and the re-generation of native grasses and under-story plants. Gerry Butler, Chair of LASA, joined Glenn at Auburn to take part in wa tour of landcare sites with members of the Upper Wakefield Landcare group.

Attending the Lower Eyre Agricultural Development Association’s annual Farming Expo at Ungarra was one of the highlights of Glenn’s visit to EP. Other highlights were the Port Neill Progress Association’s coastal protection and revegetation projects and seeing the results of a 15 year landcare plan on Mark and Andrea Hannemann’s property at Cleve.

LASA will use the feedback from the groups to plan activities to support them and to advocate on their behalf at regional, state and national levels.

The Regional visits provided an opportunity to promote the Green Army Programme and to look for opportunities to bring landcare groups together to share Green Army projects. They also enabled Glenn to catch up with Regional Landcare Facilitators and other regional staff with the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources