The Bugle - 15 December 2006
In news this week
Regional NRM group stories
Government updates
- New $10 million WaterWise initiative to maintain Queeensland lifestyle
- Info source benefits regional NRM groups
- $1 million boost for national Coastcare program
- Queenslander wins Land and Water research fellowship
- Research into effects of climate change on our communities
Reef Plan updates
Natural resources news
- Big changes for the state's peak body for Landcare
- Everything you wanted to know about Queensland weeds...
- Report shows Queensland's volunteers are worth more than $16 billion a year
- Arctic may lose all ice by summer 2040
- Get a job in NRM!
This is the final edition of The Bugle for 2006. Many thanks to our readers who have provided so many positive responses, suggestions and comments over the last year.
The Bugle will be back toward the end of January. Have a safe and happy holiday.
NRM workshop presentations now available
Information on all the speakers at last month's national NRM workshop is now availabe on the Regional Groups Collective web site.
The RGC web site shows how to request a copy of particular presentations that may be of interest.
For more info, phone the RGC's Doug Parsons on 3211 4412 or 0427 626 868.
New $10 million WaterWise initiative to maintain Queeensland lifestyle
Queensland's active, outdoor lifestyle received a boost recently with the launch of the Queensland Government's $10 million Lifestyle WaterWise program.
Premier Peter Beattie said the program, which delivered on an election commitment, would assist Queensland's not-for-profit organisations to maintain gardens, parks and sporting fields during the drought.
"Lifestyle WaterWise is about maintaining the active, outdoor lifestyle Queensland is renowned for," Mr Beattie said.
"The drought has seen so many of our parks, gardens and sporting fields drying out, and Queensland kids in particular are suffering as a result.
"This program means Queensland sporting clubs, P&Cs, churches and community childcare, kindergartens and preschools will be able to access grants of up to $30,000 to implement waterwise measures.
"Eligible measures could include improving watering systems for parks, gardens or sporting fields, replacing existing water-use devices such as single-flush toilets, providing alternative water sources such as water tanks, and installing swimming pool covers and rollers.
"This is about maintaining a vital part of our great Queensland lifestyle and I encourage Queensland clubs and organisations to put their hand up for this assistance to help them save water, save money, and access alternative water supplies," he said.
Get more info about Lifestyle WaterWise, including application forms
Info source benefits regional NRM groups
The Queensland Regional Bodies Information System (QRBIS) contains a vast array of data freely available for use by regional NRM groups.
QRBIS is a web-enabled database developed to provide regional groups with access to a variety of demographic, social and economic data series relevant to NRM planning and implementation. All the data is concorded (or best-fitted) to regional-group boundaries and is available in time series wherever possible.
QRBIS is updated frequently, and recent updates to data that may be of immediate interest include:
- Estimated resident population 2005 (now five-year age groups by sex)
- Building approvals, September 2006
- Tourism accommodation, June 2006.
Remember to keep checking QRBIS for updates - especially for building approvals and tourism accommodation as these collections are updated quarterly. Motor vehicle registration will be updated over the coming months with 2006 data and the findings from the ABS NRM Survey will be added shortly.
For more details of what's available on QRBIS, to gain access to the database, or if you have any questions about the system, please email NRW's John Mackenzie.
$1 million boost for national Coastcare program
Efforts to protect Australia's precious coasts have received a boost under a $1 million Australian Government funding grant for Landcare Australia's national Coastcare program.
The two-year Natural Heritage Trust funding was announced recently by the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell and Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Peter McGauran.
"The Australian Government is proud to support Landcare Australia Limited and its work protecting our coasts through the national Coastcare program," Senator Campbell said.
Queenslander wins Land and Water research fellowship
A Queenslander is one of three winners of the 2006 Land Water Senior Research Fellowships announced by Education, Science and Training Minister Julie Bishop.
The three winners, Dr Greg McKeon (Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water), Dr Pauline Mele (Victorian Department of Primary Industries) and Dr Richard Stirzaker (CSIRO) received fellowships worth $100,000.
"I congratulate all three senior research fellows on their outstanding achievement. At a time when we are facing a severe drought, the need for our most talented scientists to pursue such research is critical," Minister Bishop said.
"The fellowships allow outstanding senior researchers a year away from their day-to-day responsibilities to pursue resource management projects of strategic scope and importance."
- Dr McKeon aims to assess whether current NRM policies for grazing lands are flexible enough to deal with climate change and determine what changes may be needed.
- Dr Mele will look at how emerging technology is affecting our understanding of soil biology, and the changes that may be needed to help make better natural resource management decisions.
- Dr Stirzaker plans to write the agricultural equivalent of CSIRO's Total Wellbeing Diet, using his extensive experience in irrigation efficiency, salinity and agroforestry to link the global debate on food security and NRM to the common backyard garden through not only facts and figures but practical advice.
Research into effects of climate change on our communities
The Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, has announced $1.6 million for five grants to help Australian cities and towns prepare for the challenges of climate change.
Senator Campbell said each project would provide data on the likely effects of climate change on towns and cities and their infrastructure such as buildings, transport and health systems and water supply.
"Many parts of Australia are vulnerable to the effects of climate change," Senator Campbell said.
"Severe storms, more frequent heat waves, less water in our dams and rising sea levels are some of the threats of climate change that can affect our lifestyles and the infrastructure we rely on.
"By choosing a range of study areas, such as Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, the Gold Coast and inland areas of NSW and Victoria as well as the ACT, we build a better picture of the likely effects of climate change on our large cities right through to rural and coastal towns."
Read the Minister's media statement
Reef Plan coming to a cinema near you
Raising community awareness of threats to the Great Barrier Reef from broadscale landuse is the aim of a Reef Water Quality Protection Plan (Reef Plan) advertising campaign that will run during the school holidays. The campaign will include billboard and cinema ads within the Reef catchment and in Brisbane.
In the Reef catchment, the ad will be on 15 billboards along the Bruce Highway and in all major cinemas. The campaign will ask people to visit the new Reef Plan website www.reefplan.qld.gov.au (going live late December). The website will form the major call to action for this campaign, as it provide links to getting involved in the on-ground activities of all Reef Plan participants.
It is an ideal opportunity to gain acknowledgement and support for activities which are helping to implement the Reef Plan, as these advertisements will provide a great opportunity for Reef Plan participating agencies, industries, research groups and regional NRM bodies to produce their own media releases and articles demonstrating their involvement in implementing the Reef Plan.
The advertising campaign will stimulate an interest about the Reef Plan in the community and by combining media releases from all Reef Plan participants with the campaign.
Big changes for the state's peak body for Landcare
There are big changes happening at Queensland Water and Land Carers (QWaLC), the state's peak body for volunteer natural resource management groups.
Vickie Webb, formerly a CEO in a Queensland regional NRM group, has joined QWaLC as executive officer. Vickie can be contacted at eo@landcareqld.org.au. Communications officer Tess McGlone has now moved on to another position in local government and a new communications officer will be appointed soon.
QWaLC has also been busy planning for 2007. One of the highlights will be running risk management workshops with Conservation Volunteers Australia for Landcare groups in regional Queensland.
For more info, visit the QWaLC web site, or contact your region's QWaLC representative. Contact details are available on the website.
Everything you wanted to know about Queensland weeds...
The 9th Queensland Weed Symposium will be held at the Holiday Inn, Surfers Paradise, on the Gold Coast
3-6 June 2007.
The organisers, the Weed Society of Queensland, say the conference should be of interest to:
- local government weeds officers
- state agency officers
- chemical company representatives
- agribusiness, private consultants, students & landholders
- community group members – Bushcare, Landcare and catchment management groups
- industry groups – production managers, weed treatment and bushland rehabilitation contractors,
garden industries, product and equipment suppliers - environmental managers – planners, project managers
- field staff
- special interest audiences – nature-based recreation groups, gardening clubs
- educational institutions – tertiary and TAFE
- researchers
- non-government organisations.
For more info, visit the conference web site.
Report shows Queensland's volunteers are worth more than $16 billion a year
Queensland's army of volunteers have been valued at more than $16 billion annually, according to a new report released recently to coincide with International Volunteer Day.
Communities Minister Warren Pitt said the report, entitled The Economic Value of Volunteering in Queensland, only served to reinforce what we already knew – that our volunteers make an enormously valuable contribution.
The report was produced by Associate Professor Dr Duncan Ironmonger from the University of Melbourne and for the first time quantifies the value of formal (organisation) and informal (individual) volunteering contributions to Queensland's society.
Mr Pitt said the report valued the efforts of volunteering in Queensland in 2004 at more than $16 billion, which equated to an additional 387,000 jobs throughout the state.
Read the Minister's media statement
Arctic may lose all ice by summer 2040
Global warming could leave the Arctic without ice during the summer as early as 2040, a study by a team of US and Canadian scientists shows, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
"The effects of greenhouse warming are starting to rear their ugly head," said Mark Serreze, a scientist at the University of Colorado.
The research found that the extent of sea ice each September could be reduced so abruptly that, within about 20 years, it may begin retreating four times faster than at any time in the observed record.
"We have already witnessed major losses in sea ice, but our research suggests that the decrease over the next few decades could be far more dramatic than anything that has happened so far," said lead researcher Marika Holland from the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research.
Get a job in NRM!
Are you interested in working with Queensland's regional natural resource management bodies?
Then head to the Regional Groups' Collective web site where current job opportunities are now available.
Be sure to check back regularly to ensure you don't miss out on the job of a lifetime!
Thought for the week
But it is also true - marvellously and encouragingly so - that societies can build their entire economies around trees: economies that are much better for people at large, and infinitely more sustainable, than anything we have at present. Trees could indeed stand at the heart of the world's economics and politics, just as they are at the centre of all terrestrial ecology.
Colin Tudge, The Secret Life of Trees: how they live and why they matter
We welcome your contributions and feedback. If you have any comments or suggestions for The Bugle please contact Paul Rees.
To view past issues of The Bugle visit the regional NRM web site.
The Bugle is a weekly newsletter published by Community Partnerships, the Department of Natural Resources and Water, highlighting regional NRM activities around Queensland.
Last updated 14 December 2006