While this quarter was one of our smaller milestones, yet we still delivered strong results and continued to overachieve across the project.

Our communications officers have been busy sharing our progress with more than 97 outreach and content pieces – that’s a lot of info on rivers! This includes social media, radio interviews, long form videos and other materials. We have already gone far beyond the minimum communications requirements, and we will keep creating content so we can celebrate this work with you.

Our main on ground achievement this quarter was weed removal. Our project officers delivered 13.5 hectares of weed control, working with volunteers and contractors to remove more than 18 weed species. They used frilling, spot spraying, hand pulling and cut and dab techniques depending on the species. Removing weeds gives our native plantings the best chance of survival. With more than a year still to go, we are already within 2 hectares of our total weed removal target.

This quarter’s milestones also introduced a new deliverable under the grant, the Skills and Knowledge Survey. We began this work at the very start of the project with an oral survey that highlighted gaps in cultural heritage knowledge. This helped shape the cultural training delivered by Buru Ngunawal Aboriginal Corporation to more than 15 people. The survey this quarter measured the impact of that training, and the results were excellent. All respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the training improved their cultural knowledge, and 85 percent said it has made them more culturally conscious in their Landcare activities. It is great to see learning that will benefit people well beyond this project.

We are excited for the year ahead and cannot wait to share the next update with even more on ground progress.