INVITATION TO COMMENT: Review of the NSW BioBanking Scheme

On 10 May 2012 the NSW Minister for the Environment, Robyn Parker MP, announced the start of the statutory review of the BioBanking Scheme.

The aim of the review is to identify the strengths and challenges of BioBanking and evaluate ways of improving it to ensure it achieves credible environmental outcomes and is practical to use.

Submissions close Monday 9th July 2012.

More information.

VIC FUNDING OPPORTUNITY: 2 Million Trees

The 2 Million Trees Project will plant 1.5 million trees in parklands and other public open space in metropolitan Melbourne and half a million trees along waterways in regional Victoria.

Councils, schools, community and Landcare groups, committees of management and other public land managers are invited to submit tree planting proposals.

Applications for Round 1 close 2 July 2012.

More information.

EVENT SA: Orchids of the Yorke Peninsula region, 24 June 2012

Members of the Native Orchid Society of South Australia will give a presentation on the diverse range of orchids that occur in the Yorke Peninsula region at a workshop held at Hardwicke Bay on Sunday, June 24 2012.

More information.

EVENT VIC: Visit Nardoo Hills Reserve, 19 August 2012

Join Bush Heritage’s Victorian Reserves Manager Jeroen van Veen for an exclusive visit to Nardoo Hills Reserve Sunday 19 August 2012.

This 817 ha supports a large diversity of vegetation communities including grey box grassy woodland, box-ironbark and mallee, providing vital habitats for a range of wildlife.

For bookings call Fam Charko 04 02519124 or email: bookings (at) iffa (dot) org (dot) au.

EVENT: National Landcare Conference, Sydney 3-5 September 2012

The National Landcare Conference is being held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre from 3 to 5 September 2012. This year’s conference will take place in Landcare Week and will be an exciting opportunity to bring together people that are interested in creating sustainable landscapes for the 21st century. Participants from Landcare and community groups, land managers, industry, regional bodies and government representatives are invited to submit abstracts for presentations and posters.

The call for abstracts closes on Tuesday 12 June 2012.

EVENT: Society for Conservation Biology regional conference 21 - 23 September 2012

Society for Conservation Biology’s Oceania section are holding a regional conference on Conservation Biology in Oceania 21st – 23rd September 2012 in Darwin. The theme is 'People and Conservation in Land and Sea Country'.

Land and sea country are terms used by Indigenous people in northern Australia to refer to the environments they have managed for millennia. The philosophy underlying land and sea country management of passing on the knowledge and values inherited from ancestors to descendants is widely shared by conservation biologists across the globe. The meeting will showcase Indigenous conservation management while highlighting the tools and knowledge now available to all conservation practitioners in caring for land and sea country. Symposia and workshop suggestions on any topic relevant to conservation biology in the region are welcome.

Early Bird registrations close 1st July. More information available from the conference website.

EVENT: Australasian Systematic Botany Society Conference, Perth, 23-28 September 2012

The Australasian Systematic Botany Society will hold their 2012 conference in Perth 23-28th September 2012. The conference theme, Local knowledge, global delivery, follows from last year's landmark International Botanical Congress in Melbourne, where sweeping new changes surrounding the publication of new taxa were proposed. Electronic publication came into effect at the start of 2012, marking a new era in the communication of local research to a world wide audience.

We are also in a time of rapidly advancing technologies, which has seen the development of new online tools for compiling and delivering systematic information. To this end, abstracts are invited on biodiversity informatics, web-based collaborations, electronic publishing and eFloras. Abstracts are also invited on local endemism, pollination and biodiversity threats such as climate change and plant pathogens. Students are strongly encouraged to attend and present their research, even if their projects are in their infancy.

Abstracts are due by 30 June 2012. More information available on the conference website.

EVENT: Investing in environmental performance, Adelaide 15-17 October 2012

SMI Knowledge Transfer are holding their inaugural workshop on Investing in Environmental Performance in Adelaide, South Australia, 15-17 October 2012. The workshop 'aims to highlight the diversity and build awareness of the improvements in environmental management that are currently occurring in the Australian Resources Sector.'

‘Managing Ecosystems – establishment and resilience’ is included in the list of topics for which abstracts are invited.

More information, including a call for abstracts, can be found here.

EVENT: Society for Ecological Restoration Australasia, Perth, 27-30 November 2012

The SER-Australasia Inaugural Conference will be held in Perth, Western Australia, 28-30 November 2012.

For land managers, scientists and practitioners who work in biodiversity restoration, this SERA meeting will provide a critical international forum at a time of significance for the region's species, ecosystems and landscape.

The ANPC will be presenting a symposium on the role of plant translocations in restoring and maintaining biodiversity: policy, planning and practice.

For more information and to register visit the conference webpage.

ANPC CALLING BUSHLAND RESTORATION ARTICLES for Australasian Plant Conservation (APC)

We are seeking articles for the June – August 2012 issue of Australasian Plant Conservation (APC), the bulletin of the Australian Network for Plant Conservation.

The issue will be on the theme ‘Bushland Restoration’ and will highlight current small scale efforts and local approaches towards the restoration of bushland areas.

If you, your group, or organisation, has been undertaking bushland restoration, we encourage you to submit an article. What are your visions and goals? What were your challenges? What have been your successes? What has worked really well, and what wouldn’t you repeat again?

Articles generally should not exceed 1200 words and authors are encouraged to submit two or three high resolution images to illustrate their article. Further guidelines for authors about the APC style and scope can be downloaded here.

General articles not on the theme are also welcome. We also welcome: book reviews; notes regarding interesting recent publications or resources; and workshop, course and fieldwork announcements.

If you are considering submitting an article or wish to discuss possibilities, please contact the editor, Selga Harrington asap. Email at selga.harrington@gmail.com.

ANPC SEEKING BOOK REVIEWERS

The ANPC is seeking reviewers for the following recently or soon to be released books:

• Biodiversity Monitoring in Australia by David Lindenmayer and Philip Gibbons
• Plants of the Victorian High Country by John Murphy and Bill Dowling
• Life in a Gall by Rosalind Blanche
• Australia's Poisonous Plants, Fungi and Cyanobacteria by Ross McKenzie

Reviewers get to keep the review copy of the book.

Send expressions of interest to Selga Harrison at selga.harrington@gmail.com

NEWS: ANPC Training helps detect Myrtle rust in Far North Queensland

Myrtle Rust has recently been confirmed in the Cairns Regional Council Nursery in Mossman in Far North Queensland and in the residential garden of one of the nursery staff. The detection in the residential garden is the first detection of myrtle rust in the environment (i.e. outside a nursery situation) in Far North Queensland.

The Queensland Myrtle Rust Program recently reported that ‘The infestation in Mossman has probably been detected at an early stage due to the vigilance of Cairns Regional Council staff. The council has been very proactive in its approach to myrtle rust, ensuring many of its staff received high level myrtle rust training prior to the establishment of the disease in the area. Training was provided in December 2011 by Biosecurity Queensland and Bob Makinson from the Australian Network for Plant Conservation Inc. No doubt it has been a combination of this training and the alertness of council staff that has enabled this early detection of the disease.’

For more information on Myrtle Rust check out Bob Makinson’s recent Myrtle Rust Update.