CALL FOR COMMENTS: Threatened Species Act review (NSW)

Your views are being sought to help shape the way threatened species are managed in New South Wales. Under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995, the Minister for Climate Change and the Environment is required to review the Act every 5 years to determine whether the policy objectives of the Act remain valid, and whether the terms of the Act remain appropriate for securing those objectives.

To assist you in formulating your views the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water has prepared a background paper. The paper is not comprehensive, however it does provide some guidance to the major components of the Act. It may be useful as a communication tool with your organisation/membership. Responses need not be confined to the questions contained in the paper. A copy of the background paper can be downloaded from http://tracking.involvecrm.com/?ADMwMDAxQzAwNDFhMTM1M2FiZS0zM2IxLTQxNmUtYTNhOS1jMGFhYTRjZDQxMjMvMjU1ODAwNjdodHRwOi8vd3d3LmVudmlyb25tZW50Lm5zdy5nb3YuYXUvY29uc3VsdC9EZWNQdWJsaWNDb25zdWx0YXRpb24uaHRt
Written submissions should be directed to Threatened Species Conservation Act Review, Director, Landscapes and Ecosystems Conservation Branch, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, PO Box A290, Sydney South NSW 1232 or e-mail mailto:tscact.review@environment.nsw.gov.au%3cmailto:tscact.review@environment.nsw.gov.au>, by 5pm on Wednesday, 17 November 2010.

ANPC: Hurry places still available for Translocation Workshop, 5 November

The Translocation of Threatened Plants Workshop

When: Friday 5th November, 2010
Where: Tweed Bicentennial Environment Park, Centennial Park, Pottsville, NSW

Have you been involved in, or would you like to be involved in, the planning, approval or implementation of a translocation project for threatened flora? Then this workshop is relevant to you.

Registrations close Thursday 28th October
For further information regarding content, costs, registration etc can be found at: www.anpc.asn.au and go to the current workshops.
Or phone the ANPC Office: 02 6250 9509

GRANTS: National Science Week Project Grants (2011)

Australians interested in running a science event or activities for their local community are being urged to apply for a National Science Week grant for 2011.

The National Science Week 2011 grants round opens on Friday 1 October 2010 and closes on Friday 22 October 2010 at 5:00pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time.

Grants are available to individuals and organisations interested in delivering a science event or activity for their local community. Applications regarding new and exciting event ideas are always welcome. Grant applications and further information can be found on the National Science Week grants website or contact your State or Territory Coordinating Committee for advice on running a Science Week event.

In 2011, National Science Week will run from 13-21 August.

OPEN DAY: Australian National Botanic Gardens, 40th Anniversary - 24 October

40th Anniversary Open Day, Our Garden Party
Australian National Botanic Gardens
Sunday 24 October (10am – 4pm)

Listen to live music on the Eucalypt lawn, journey behind the scenes to visit the nursery, cryptogam herbarium, Australian national herbarium, display glass house and library.

Events include market stalls, live entertainment on the Eucalypt lawn main stage, talks, workshops and entertainment at the Rock Gardens Focus Tent, children’s craft activities and discovery walks, Friends of the Gardens talking about their contributions to the Gardens and behind the scenes talks in areas such as the nursery, the herbariums and the display glass house.
Be entertained explore, indulge, discover and relax at the Open Day Garden Party and dress up in your favourite spring outfit and enjoy high tea in the gardens.

For lots more information and details about programmes, transport etc can be found here.

BIODIVERSITY: Convention on Biological Diversity – Nagoya, Japan 18-29 October

The 193 signatory nations to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will be meeting in Nagoya, Japan from 18-29 October after pledging eight years ago to cut species loss “significantly” by this year. With studies showing that global diversity is reaching crisis point, conservation leaders are hoping this meeting will give the green light to a new set of international agreements to help protect biodiversity.

Lack of money for conservation projects is a key reason why governments have failed to meet their 2010 targets. Several proposals for mustering funds are up for discussion this week.

Agreement on the general ambitions looks likely, but large international rifts over conservation funding and access to the genetic resources of ecologically rich nations are threatening to derail the negotiations over how to achieve them. One fundraising mechanism gaining support is the phasing out of subsidies that are harmful to biodiversity.

But there is likely to be tense debate on a proposed legally binding agreement to tighten rules for access to nations' genetic resources, such as plants that potentially produce pharmaceuticals. Developing countries want the rules to cover products that have been generated in the past, but companies and developed countries say that only products worked on after the regulations are legally implemented should be affected.

Djoghlaf (executive secretary of CBD) is optimistic that countries will agree to a set of core principles, and then set a timetable for hammering out the finer details by 2012. "I can't imagine closing the meeting without agreement on the access and benefit sharing scheme," he says.

Notes from http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101011/full/467764a.html

ANPC: Update on Myrtle Rust

New to the ANPC Website:
Myrtle Rust arrival in Australia – a major threat to native biodiversity.
Compiled by: Bob Makinson (20 Sept 2010).Includes:

•Myrtle Rust arrival in New South Wales
•Why is this a big problem?
•The potential scale of the problem
•Can these rust diseases be controlled?
•What is being done?
•What to do if you see a myrtaceous plant with brown lesions or yellow pustules on leaf or stems
•Further information and links

Go to: http://www.anbg.gov.au/anpc/resources/Myrtle_Rust.html to see the full update.

ANPC: Translocation of Threatened Plants Workshop

Have you been involved in, or would you like to be involved in, the planning, approval or implementation of a translocation project for threatened flora? Then this workshop is relevant to you.

When: Friday 5th November, 2010
Where: Tweed Bicentennial Environment Park, Centennial Park, Pottsville, NSW

Registrations close Thursday 28th October
For further information regarding content, costs, registration etc go to: http://www.anbg.gov.au/anpc/courses/Translocation%20NSW%20Nov%202010/TranslocationNov2010.html

Or phone the ANPC Office: 02 6250 9509

GRASSLAND RESTORATION: Beeac & Birregurra

From Little Things Big Things Grow - Grassland Restoration Beeac and Birregurra

You saw it when it all began…come see how things have grown. It’s the fifth year since sowing was initiated at the Beeac and Birregurra sites – there have been some interesting discoveries along the way. Find out more from the Grassy Groundcover Research Project. Hear a brief presentation about the project-wide outcomes and visit two sowing sites to view on-ground outcomes.

Dr Paul Gibson Roy from Greening Australia and Uni of Melbourne will be present.
When - Friday 29th October 10.30am – 3pm
Where – presentation and lunch – Beeac Hall
Site visit – Beeac cemetery and Bleak House, Birregurra
Cost – free including lunch
RSVP by Friday 22nd October
Contact – Paul Gibson Roy 0427259063 roypg@unimelb.edu.au

ANPC: Book reviewer wanted

CSIRO PUBLISHING has released two new books:

Forest Phoenix: How a Great Forest Recovers After Wildfire, by David Lindenmayer, David Blair, Lachlan McBurney and Sam Banks (http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/21/pid/6426.htm) .
Desert Channels: The Impulse to Conserve, edited by Libby Robin, Chris Dickman and Mandy Martin (http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/6406.htm) .

If you would like to receive a review copy and write a review for publication in a future issue of Australasian Plant Conservation, please contact the APC Editor: Rosemary.Purdie@environment.gov.au

BIO-LINKS: Landholder incentives to protect native vegetation

The Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority (CMA) will contract landholders to manage native vegetation corridors (or ‘bio-links’) on their properties for either 10 or 15 years.

“These long-term agreements will ensure land managers have secure funding and a realistic time-frame to achieve lasting environmental benefits as well as help protect native species from the impacts of climate change,” said Murrumbidgee CMA Chair, Lee O’Brien.

The Climate Change Corridors Project is one of three new projects launched in Wagga Wagga this week by the Murrumbidgee CMA under the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country program and Catchment Action NSW, a NSW Government initiative.

For more information contact Virginia Gawler on: (02) 6932 3255 or 0410 211 670 or Email: virginia.gawler@cma.nsw.gov.au

ANPC: Conference Update

Australian Network for Plant Conservation Inc (ANPC)
8TH NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Planning conservation to achieving restoration:
A conference for everyone involved in conserving Australia's unique flora and native vegetation

28 September to 1 October 2010, Perth WA

Registrations close 13 September 2010

Get in early as one day field trips are filling fast!

For more information or to register go to the conference website or contact the ANPC office (anpc@anpc.asn.au; ph: 02 6250 9509)

INTERACTIVE FIELD DAY: Taxonomy Research & Information Network (TRIN)

31 August 2010, 10am till 4pm
Crosbie Morrison Room, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra ACT

Join us for a hands-on experience with the latest range of identification products and biodiversity technology.

For further information and to download the program visit: http://www.taxonomy.org.au/fieldday.html