December, 2012

Welcome to this issue of the WSN Croaker, the final one for 2012. I am having trouble believing 2013 is just about with us. It has been a very busy year with so many great environmental events and I think every man and his dog was doing a new management strategys and nearly every Government Department was asking the community to have its say on Waterway, Invasive Plants and Animals or Weeds. Even Local Government asked for our thoughts on Open Spaces & Recreational areas (they all got few of my thoughts) This is great to see, but we will have to find out if they take note of what the community said.

Issue #15

Now let me tell you about the great events I have attended and things that have been happening around town. DRAFT VICTORIAN WATERWAY MANAGEMENT STRATEGY MEETING. Monday 12th November.

I had really been looking forward to this meeting so I could find out what the plans were for water quality and invasive species management in waterways. There were about ten people there and there was a lot of information given out and a lot of questions asked (so much so that November was full on for a band of our members doing we never got to hear about the most important subject: the final organization of our inaugural Carp Muster, plus invasive species in our waterways) so I have just had to do a lot of reading. I will let you know what it is all about the tail end of meetings and events. and whats happening in 2013. There are big new plans for 2013, as well as our usual environmental events which we attend or organise throughout the year. The WSN Croaker will still be proNATIONAL RECYCLE WEEK VISIT TO RECYCLE duced, but with a few changes, regular features and a CENTRE. few new writers so look out for the first issue in February Thursday 15th November 2013. I would like to wish all of you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Also I hope that you get time to spend with loved ones and friends over this festive season. My youngest son Adam is coming over from Perth he works for a gold mine company over there. Lets hope he brings me something nice for Chrissie, shares would be good my other son David is working at the airport on designing fire safety so he will be busy no time off for him. Remember the best gift one person can give to another is to say I Love You because you just dont know what is around the corner. What a great looking place, a lot different than the old centre. There was about 12 of us went along to check out the new $3 million VATMI recycle plant. They now have a great education room and the General Manager Michael Skudutis gave us information on the workings of I guess I had better practice what I preach by saying: the plant and what is meant to be put into your recycle I LOVE ALL OF YOU and wish to thank you for all the bin. Paper, cardboard, glass bottles, plastic bottles plus support, reading the Croaker, and the encouragement anything that food & drink is packed in that has a recycle you have given to me over this past year and caring for symbol that has a number in it. The information he gave the environment and our waterways. us was great as I did understand a little more on what should be put in the bin. I was put to the test after the talk to sort out a pile of containers on the table and put in a Regards Diane Farmer Coordinator, WSN Restoring Our Waterways 04390 20448 diane.farmer@bigpond.com PO Box 772, Wangaratta, Vic 3676
Contents CLC Presentation Night Carp Muster Facilitated Planning Workshop 2 3-5 6

WSN Restoring Our Waterways CROAKER Newsletter

box what was recyclable. I passed with flying colours although Michael said to me on the quiet he would cough if I was going to make a mistake but I didnt need him to cough. We then went out into the work area and I was amazed at the size of the machinery and the amount of recycled rubbish but also what amazed me was the kind of things people recycle. I am pretty good at recycling and knowing what to put in the bin, my motto is if in doubt dont put it in. Some members of the community have no idea, are lazy or just dont know what to do with something so it goes in the recycle bin. Things that could go to the charity shops, and someone else might have been able to use them. Some other things have to be sent to bowser tip (which to me is wasting the workers and management time). I saw hundreds of childrens plush toys, hoses, dogs beds, laundry baskets, plant pots, cloths, mats, pots & pans and even a gas cylinder, you name it. We were all dumbfounded, it is not that you cant see on the lid of the bin what goes in and every household gets the information put into their letter box. I know school children are taught at school and most schools practice recycling. Perhaps the school children should be in charge of the recycle bin at their homes. It is good that a lot of the cans, bottles and other plastic products do get recycled. See piles of things ready to go behind the group photo although glass seems to be a bit of a problem. Glass is glass and can be recycled but crockery is crockery which cant be recycled; it goes in the ordinary green bin. The good news is that thank goodness a lot of people know how to do it properly otherwise the recycle plant would be out of business. I do recommend that if you belong to a group or organisation, you organise a visit to the education centre and see if you can have a tour. I am sure the schools would be interested in an excursion also. Well done Heather Potter, Terry Corry, Michael Skudutis and your workers for having this facility available to help our environment. My hint for you: NO plastic bags in the recycle bin. Take them to the supermarkets and put them in the bin provided. Read the instruction on the lid of the bin and think before you put anything in the recycle bin. CLC PRESENTATION NIGHT Friday 16th November

Page 2

I enjoy these evenings as you get to see all the great volunteering the year 9 Community Leadership Challenge students have been doing over the semester and I am impressed by all their efforts. ROWs students Will, Lockie and Zane were all dressed up in blue shirts and a tie, but Nic was done up to the hilt in a nice black suit. Callum was not informed of the dress code for the evening but he still looked good. Nic presented me with a block of chocolate to say thank you and said they had flowers but had lost them (yeah right I thought). Not sure where Kyle was he might have had other plans. Their presentation was one of the last for the evening so when they walked out I was relieved. When they explained all about working on our waterways and cleaning up the environment, talking about the terrific carp fishing they did and the Carp Muster I was so proud of them. Working with the boys was great as, no matter what sort of project I asked them to do each week, they always put their heart and soul into it. Well done guys, and keep on fishing! The other day I received thank you letters from the students and it is great that all my efforts teaching them about caring for our waterways and environment were appreciated. One of the sentences was I think youre a lovely lady and youre a very dedicated woman, which brought tears to my eyes. Thank goodness I have a few months break till its time for the next lot of students (only joking). HUEY AND LOUIES BEAT Hello and welcome to another issue of Huey and Louie's Beat, I must first say how great the Carp Muster was. We caught a lot of those rascal carp! I would like to thank all of the Wangaratta Sustainability Network's volunteers and supervisors who helped on that day. I would like to give Diane a extra thank you for all that planning, and cooking the snags and burgers. it was a very great day! Right, now on some serious things, I have been down to the creek and i have been spotting heaps of people littering there (mostly school students). i have told them where all that rubbish goes to, and that I am a volunteer at Landcare and they picked it up and took it

The WSN Restoring Our Waterways CROAKER Newsletter

home! Now i have some great news! Huey and Louie's Beat has an apprentice helper by the name of Rocco, our other dog who's only a two-year-old German Shepherd puppy, but he loves coming down to the creeks with Louie and me. So i thought that he might be an assistant, taking rubbish out of the creek when it's a bit far out for me to get to. That's all I've got time for! I hope everyone who reads this has a safe and happy Christmas and a great New Year for 2013. See you all next year. CARP MUSTER Sunday 25th November. A perfect day: the sun was shining and a group of members were all organised and ready to go. We had about 80 people who registered that they were going to come. Once we were all set up the keen carp catchers started to arrive and they just kept on arriving: from littlies to the well-matured from all over the place Wodonga, Albury, Beechworth, Rutherglen, Glenrowan and heaps from Wang. Each registered child received a gift pack and the adults were given a book on fishes or NEWater drink bottle and some of them received a pack of all sorts of goodies when they came past the information table beside the registration desk. There was a rushed shopping spree for more food as we had only expected about 100. The childrens activities tent had a fishing competition set up for the little ones thanks to Sally Colson and there were lots of prizes up for grabs if they caught a fish in a pretend pond, and heaps of other things for them to do thanks to Joy Sloan also. Pat Kuhle took off collecting rubbish along the Creek towards Perry Sreet and returned with a couple of bags full and then headed down towards Roy Street bridge where she removed a sign from the creek. Hugh did a clean up removing a trolley under the Perry Street bridge and a car tyre near the Greta Road bridge as well as a couple of bags of rubbish. Thanks guys. Once things settled down and everyone was registered and sent on their way to start fishing I

Page 3

went on a walkabout along the creek. Just past the Tone Road Bridge there were people all set up fishing so I spoke to each group as I came to them. Looking along a stretch of the creek and seeing all the family groups and some in groups of two or three fishing looked great there was not much gap between some of them but they were all keen to get those pesky rascals (carp) as Hugh calls them out of One Mile Creek. Up near Wareena Wetlands, where the clinic tent was, Shane Crispin and gang were fishing. No carp were caught but Shane caught himself a dead cat skin that smelt to high heaven. A bit further along I came across a family where a little girl had caught the first carp and it was rather large: near as big as she was she was so excited so I took a family group photo. By the time I got back to Batchelors Green it was nearly time to start to barbeque lunch and ROWs No 1 cook had arrived and was ready to go. About 11.30ish the Carp catchers started to bring in their haul. Kelvin was measuring, Tony was entering the size and number caught into the computer, and it was all so exciting. Both barbies were on the go, one doing veggie burgers, fish and bacon & eggs and the other sausages, rissoles, onions and bacon. Alan and Jim cooked and three of us were serving at one barbie and the other barbie was flat out also. The food must have been OK as some people were coming back for seconds. Lunch was full on for at least an hour or so but once peoples tummies were full it was time for presentation of prizes. Trevor Danger was the MC and introduced Adrian Wells who did a great talk on carp, and all the work that is being done along the Murray Darling Basin to try and remove them from the river system to help our native fish survive. It was then onto the presentation, I did a little thank you to our sponsors and Trevor did the announcing of the prize winners while Tony Lane (chairperson of WSN) and Adrian Wells from Murray Darling Association did the hand shaking. (A list of the winners and sponsors will be at the end of the article). Only one adult won a prize and that was for the most carp caught. All the other prizes were won by children, even the largest Carp caught. There was a lot of socialising and talking after the presentation and everyone had a great time and they asked if we could do it

The WSN Restoring Our Waterways CROAKER Newsletter

again next year, so thats what we hope to do. GREAT DAY GREAT FUN GREAT FISHING GREAT FOOD and a lot of togetherness to remove carp from our waterways. See you next year were the words of a lot of people as they left. We had about 204 people at the Event and those that were fishing removed 74 carp. Fantastic effort, thanks! There were about 20 plus volunteers working hard on the day in all different areas and I sincerely thank them for helping make the day such a success. THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO CAME ALONG TO MAKE THE DAY SUCH A FUN DAY. Not everyone caught a carp on the day but next year they just might. It was a great Clean Up the World Event which put us on the World Map. NERS: Largest Carp Caught: Griffin Fraser Smallest Carp Caught: Bec White

Page 4

Biggest Carp caught by the smallest entrant: Corey Marjanovic Most Carp Caught: Peter Vozlic Most Carp Caught by A Child under 15 years: Kyle Rettalack Most Unusual thing caught: dead cat skin, by Shane Crispin Most Rubbish Collected: Pat Kuhle

SPONSORS: The Centres ABC (Act, Belong, Commit) program grant. Without this grant the Carp Muster which was a Free Event would not have been possible. FUNNY STORY OF THE DAY Alan & Denise went fishing downstream of the Phillipson Street bridge and they were going well catching four carp in a short time but they had a visitor come and join them it was Mr. Snake so they left which made sense to me. Maybe next year they will find a spot where they can catch heaps and win the most carp caught without being disturbed by an unexpected visitor. PRIZES VOUCHERS:
TURNERS FISHING TACKLE 120-124 Greta Road Wangaratta Vic,3677

And Willies Fish and Chips

Appin Street Wangaratta Special Thanks to Shirley OConnor for the great flyer and printing them.

WIN-

The WSN Restoring Our Waterways CROAKER Newsletter

Page 5

ADVERTISING:

SUPPORT AND VOLUNTEERS: Wangaratta Urban Landcare Group, Wangaratta Sustainability Network North East Landcare, Murray Darling Association The Centres Skillsbank and CARN, Wangaratta Visitors Information Centre. Trevor Danger, Rowan OHagan, Tony & Donna Lane, Sally Carr, Shirley OConnor Pat Stafford, Pat Kuhle, Cynithia Bresnehan, Sally Colson, Kylie Richens, Brian & Clair Luxford, Joy Slone, Alan ODae, Jim Dunn, Andy Kimber, Barb Bryant, Tony Bates, Gill Raynor, Gill Baker, Kelvin Barry, Boss OBrien, Max Ellis, Troy & Dale Berry, Tania Toomey, Jerry Van Orsouw, Adrian Wells, Rowan OHagan, Hugh McGuire, Di Farmer, Jim Lewis and Peter Amor. SPECIAL VOLUNTEER THANK YOU:

ITEMS FOR PRIZE PACKS AND CHILDRENS ACTIVITIES:

A very special person who moved to the area last January and her name is Sue Smith. She was matched up to our group through Skillsbank and she volunteered to assist and join WSN Restoring Our Waterways to organise the Carp Muster as she was experienced in organising large events, PR and newsletters when she was living in Melbourne. Her knowledge was excellent and she taught us all the things we needed to know which had us sharing the load and individuals taking on different responsibilities. The most important thing she showed us was that if Wangaratta Urban Landcare Group, Wangaratta Sustainability Network, WSN Restoring Our Waterways Group and North East Landcare join forces the event will be a great success. Wangaratta Sustainability Network and especially me would like to give our heartfelt thanks to her. Sue and her family have to move back to Melbourne so she will be sadly missed. One thing though, she has left her mark on us and will never be forgotten and will become part of our history. Diane Farmer on behalf of W.S.N.

MDBA Native Fish Strategy Arthur Rylah Institute Department of Sustainability and Environment

The WSN Restoring Our Waterways CROAKER Newsletter

Page 6

FACILITATED PLANNING WORKSHOP Saturday 23rd February, 2013 A combined planning workshop with Wangaratta Urban Landcare Group and Wangaratta Sustainability Network will be held at The Centre Chisholm St, Wangaratta from 8.30am till noon with lunch supplied thanks to a grant through North East Landcare facilitator Trevor Danger.

positive change in the environment, and is more likely to be taken seriously by partners and investors. Your plan will benefit from collaboration between members and partners, such as Local Government, Regional Water Authorities, VicRoads in fact, any organisation involved in issues that matter to the Group. Involving these people in the planning process can result in partners making commitments, in advance, to the implementation of the plan. To summarise, a Landcare Group Action Plan can: 1. Build consensus amongst the Landcare Group membership on priority issues.

A facilitated planning sessions with Moragh McKay, one of the best Landcare planning facili- 2. Establish specific objectives which are realistic tators in Australia. and achievable and agreed upon by the members. This is a rare opportunity to put some solid planning processes in to your Landcare groups fu- 3. Identify projects and activities that can be unture. dertaken to respond to these issues and objectives. A Landcare Group Action Plan articulates a shared vision about the future of a local area. It 4. Agree on ways of implementing the plan and to identifies tasks that need to be completed to real- assign tasks to appropriate people. ize the shared vision, and who will carry these out 5. Communicate Group ideas and needs effec a blueprint for action. tively with partners and investors. An Action Plan is a way of communicating the Groups ideas and needs to partners and investors. It translates longterm aspirations into tangi- Please let Di Farmer or Rowan OHagan know if ble, measurable actions that can be supported or you are interested in attending so we can keep funded by a variety of sources. It paves the way you informed. for the most efficient use of scarce resources. Sitting down to plan helps to: EVENTS TO COME: Work through, agree on and prioritise issues Camping and Fishing Expo and ideas to which resources can be directed; Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th January 2013 at Identify alternatives to address the issues or Apex Park realize the ideas; Develop solutions and practical projects. An inclusive, participatory approach will improve these ideas and the likelihood that the plan will lead to effective action. A plan that reflects the consensus of landholders and residents provides strong support to the Group in bringing about

For more information on WSN contact: Rowan OHagan Secretary 12 Deakin Court Wangaratta VIC 3677 Phone (03) 5721 8231 wangarattasustainability@mail.com www.wangarattasustainability.org
Under the umbrella of the Wangaratta Urban Landcare Group