Rounding off a great year, with the second annual NGT staff workshop
On Thursday and Friday last week, we brought the NGT team together at the Cape Bridgewater Coastal Camp for a chance to review the year that has been, share highlights from each other’s work, and to look to the future for what might come next.
We covered a lot of ground, and it is hard to sum it all up in a few words, but to give you a taste – below is a brief overview of the staff presentations section of the workshop.
- Bryan talked about the RUEC project and gave a great overview of a busy year spent tackling threatened species and communities issues across the South East of SA.
- Jono covered his work over the past year tackling Victorian Volcanic Plains Threatened Flora projects at three different sites in western Victoria.
- Cath gave an overview of some of her favorite recent flora work in the South East of SA – including the major orchid translocation exercise!
- Rose spoke about her passion for environmental education and what she learned by attending a Great Explorations workshop, as well as touching on some key tasks of the community nursery project, such as the display gardens and community events.
- Yvonne spoke about the operations of the NGT cross-border community nursery, our seed bank and explained the major orders coming up this year.
- Nick took us on a journey up the Murray to explore the conservation of the mighty Murray Crayfish in Victoria and NSW.
- Craig revisited his trip to the Coorong undertaking wetland condition assessments with Cath and Nick – including the ups (great scenery) and the downs (getting bogged in the boat!).
- Mark (that’s me!) spoke about the fantastic progress made on our wetland restoration work with Parks Victoria on Public Land in Victoria (Brady Swamp complex and Long Swamp), and how the wider community has worked with us every step of the way.
- Lauren V talked about the critical role of citizen science in her research work with Mulloway and Burrowing Crayfish in Victoria.
- Jess wrapped up the history of the project and current monitoring of Little Penguins at Middle Island in Warrnambool.
- Lachie gave a great overview of wetland restoration on private land, and how we apply a flexible approach to work with landholders in a variety of situations. Every site is different!
and finally:
- Adam blew us away with a lesson in conservation genetics and how his work has helped with applied management of threatened species. Projects he touched on included the Glenelg Spiny Crayfish and our current project looking at Brolga genetics.
When you consider that this is just a fraction of what each person does, I think we were all feeling a little amazed and proud at the breath of work and the positive impact our small NGO is having on conservation in south-eastern Australia!
To close out for the year, on behalf of everyone at NGT, thanks for another fantastic year of working with us!
Have a very Merry Christmas, and we look forward to working with you in 2016…
Staff and Committee members on Day 2 of the second annual NGT workshop:
Back: Lachie, Jono, Rose, Cath, Nick, Yvonne, Melissa.
Front: Bryan, Craig, Adam, Mark, Lauren V, Jess.
