About

How did it all begin?

One by one in 2011, our founder, Mark Bachmann, tapped a small group of trusted colleagues on the shoulder with the idea of starting a new, regionally-based not-for-profit organisation. With a range of complementary skills and a passion for practical solutions, they got together to design and develop a new way of getting more environmental work to happen “on the ground” in their local region. A shared passion for nature in our region and a desire to maximise practical action were the motivating factors that brought us together. We recognised that a need exists for an environmental non-government organisation (NGO) to have a regional focus, and work on the issues of greatest local relevance with our local community and partners in the places where we work. Nature Glenelg Trust is our living experiment to fill that gap.

The Glenelg River

Why Nature Glenelg?

The name of the Trust describes our regional, cross-border focus, with the magnificent Glenelg River straddling the border between South Australia and Victoria, in the near-border zone where NGT began. Nature Glenelg Trust has staff mostly based in the regional areas situated between Adelaide (SA) and Melbourne (Vic), but also in NSW and Tasmania. Our heart and soul is in the regional areas of south-eastern Australia, where we fill gaps, work across borders and offer novel, practical solutions to environmental challenges.

What is the logo of Nature Glenelg Trust?

The Ancient Greenling (Hemiphlebia mirabilis) damselfly is a great reminder of what Nature Glenelg Trust is about. This rare species is globally significant as the only living representative of a family (Hemiphlebiidae) that can be traced back 250 million years to fossil records from Brazil to Russia.

This “living fossil” is a biological indicator that (like us) is fond of wetlands, but only occurs at a limited number of sites in south-eastern Australia, and over recent years has been found to occur at a handful of important wetland sites in the region where Nature Glenelg Trust began. At 2.5 centimetres in length they might be small, but we think they are a rather impressive little creature; after all, although rare, they have demonstrated remarkable resilience.

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