Latest stories in Hamilton and Golden Plains 🗞️

🐨 The West Vic volunteers planting 30,000 trees a year to bring koalas back to their rivers

Each year, landholders across western Victoria plant tens of thousands of trees along the Moorabool and Barwon river corridors, rebuilding koala habitat devastated from decades of clearing.

The work is being led by Bacchus Marsh’s Koala Clancy Foundation, focusing on revegetation along fertile river flats to help koala populations survive hotter, drier conditions.

How it started: Foundation president Janine Duffy told the Brolga the program began in 2015 after steep declines were observed in local koala numbers, largely linked to drought, heatwaves and long-term habitat loss.

• The organisation now runs planting events, with about 30,000 trees added each year and a long-term target of 300,000 plantings by 2030.

🗣️ “We officially started that target in 2020 so it's only the sixth year, and we're well above half,” Duffy said, noting the group recently passed 190,000 plantings.

How it’s going: Duffy said the foundation is seeing hard evidence of its work already.

🗣️ “At Lethbridge, we planted a good number of trees, in that year we did audio recordings when we first planted the trees, one year later we got a three times increase in the number of koalas calling,” she said.

🗣️ “We had one project we planted in 2021, we went out there last year to just collect tree guards, and we found a koala on that day, and the landowner turned around to me, and said, ‘we did it’. We both bawled.”

Heat hits hard: Climate extremes are already having a direct impact on koala survival, even when conditions don’t appear particularly devastating on paper.

• Research conducted by the University of Sydney earlier this year found adult koalas were at a higher risk of death once seven-day maximum temperatures were higher than 27 degrees.

• Koalas were 1.5 to 3.5 times more likely to be hospitalised or die when exposed to temperatures above 30 degrees compared to 25 degrees.

🗣️ “These animals are already on a knife’s edge of survival. They're skinny, their immune system's low, they're not getting enough to drink or eat,” Duffy explained.

What’s affecting populations? A combination of historic land clearing and more recent climate change impacts has left koala populations increasingly reliant on narrow riverine corridors.

🗣️ “They need homes, not highways,” she said, describing how koalas are often forced to move along thin strips of remaining riverside vegetation without stable habitat to settle and breed.

El Niño worries: Duffy said the Bureau of Meteorology’s recent El Niño declaration reinforced the urgency of careful, targeted planting rather than slowing restoration efforts.

🗣️ “If landowners get behind this, it could mean the difference. We've got this really short window, five, maybe 10 more years we can do it and actually really make a difference for koalas.”

Rethinking the work: Laura Hollingsworth joined the foundation’s project earlier this year and hosted her first tree planting event at her 11-acre property at Maude, near Bannockburn, on the weekend.

She explained she had concerns that drier conditions created by El Niño and climate change could slow the growth of newly planted trees.

🗣️ “I've seen that happen in the eight years that I've been living on the property, but that's because we've had good rains, that made all the difference to the tree planting that I did, they're 20 feet high now.”

🗣️ “Whereas if we have this El Niño, we have to manage what we decide to plant … but our climate and our weather events shouldn't shape our actions necessarily, they shouldn't stop us from trying to do that great work in our environment.”

Full story below.

🌧️ West Vic farmers urged to monitor dams ahead of drier-than-average spring forecast

West Vic farmers are being advised to keep a close eye on dam levels as the state heads into what is forecast to be a drier-than-average spring.

Watch your water: Agriculture Victoria’s Clem Sturmfels said patchy rainfall across the state and ongoing concerns about stock water supplies made now an ideal time for farmers to begin monitoring their dams and planning.

On the ground: Jamie Pepper's sheep and beef farm, west of Hamilton, hosts roughly 20 dams. He told the Brolga he’s already thinking ahead for the possibility that runoff may not arrive in the remaining winter months.

🗣️ "I'm on high alert, because I know what we've gone through the last two years, so my plan is to get through July," Pepper said.

🗣️ "If we've had a drier-than-average July, or not enough rain to get any overland flow happening, my plan then probably starting in August is to just start artificially filling some dams."

Prepping for a dry summer: Pepper said he would pump water from permanent springs on his property into dams if significant runoff failed to materialise before the end of next month.

• Sturmfels said taking stock of dam water levels and pasture growth over coming months could help producers calculate their property's water carrying capacity and make informed decisions before conditions deteriorated.

12-month improvement: While Pepper remains cautious, he said conditions were considerably better this winter.

🗣️ "We're so far ahead of this time last year in terms of rainfall and grass growth," he said.

🗣️ "The ground is full of water from the rain that we've had, so basically any rain from now on should turn into runoff, but we just haven't got it."

Full story below.

Latest stories in Panmure 🗞️

🌾 West Vic farmers who cut emissions to combat extreme weather are reaping the benefits

Kaniva sheep farmer Steven Hobbs and Panmure beef farmer Stephen Warth are better prepared for the El Niño event declared last week, following years of work reducing emissions and building new management plans on their properties. 

❓What happened: On June 16, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) officially declared an El Niño event. This locks Australia into a six-month weather pattern that reduces cloud cover  and potentially rainfall, increasing drought and bushfire risk. 

Andrew Watkins, adjunct professor at Monash University’s School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, told the Brolga an El Niño event doesn’t guarantee drought, but when paired with climate change boosts the chance of more time in drought and extreme heatwaves.

Many West Vic farmers are changing how they farm to reduce their emissions. What’s now becoming clear is that these changes are making their land more resilient to extreme weather conditions. 

Yarrock Farm: Steven Hobbs and his family run a sheep farm on about 800ha in the Wimmera, 18km north west of Kaniva. 

🗣️: “My focus has always been on trying to be as efficient as I can with my resources,” Hobbs told the Brolga. 

Hobbs has enacted several new livestock management and grazing practices on his farm, which have increased the amount of carbon in his soil. More soil carbon creates better soil resilience, fertility and water retention. 

Over five years, Hobbs said the carbon percentage in the soil went from 0.4 to 0.9. 

• “It offset the whole farm for 2022, and [an extra] 18 percent on top of that. The way we manage our livestock, that’s where many emissions come from in farming. 

• “The combination of rotational grazing and changing animal management has surprisingly helped us build soil carbon.” 

With El Niño confirmed, Hobbs said Yarrock Farm is prepared, as he has planted dual-purpose crops including peas, canola, barley and oats. This means if the crops are damaged due to weather conditions, they can be re-used for another purpose, like feeding stock.

In Panmure: Stephen Warth is a veterinarian and beef farmer in Panmure, south west Victoria, and he is implementing similar grazing techniques with his cattle to aid carbon cycling, the process by which carbon moves through atmosphere, soil, oceans and living organisms. 

🗣️: “Everything we do is focused towards resilience,” Warth told the Brolga. 

His property is also biodiverse, mixing a variety of annuals and perennials when planting. 

• “We’re trying to get multi-species in every paddock,” Warth said. “Another thing with the multispecies is an improvement in soil health, leading to better water infiltration and water holding capacity.” 

Warth said ensuring his ground is covered with living plants and leaf litter as often as possible meant his land was better prepared for drought due to evaporation and better rain capture. 

But he also said creating a buffer of feed for drier times was crucial. Warth utilises a rotation system where paddocks are rested for 90 to 150 days. This allows him to have feed available should his livestock require it.

Warth said people were already asking him about El Niño, in his capacity as a vet and a farmer. His advice?

🗣️: “I’d start thinking about getting hay while it’s still cheap. Start planning and start monitoring the grass in front of you. Start your budgets. Last year was tough, let’s hope it doesn’t happen again.” 

Full story below.

On Your Feed 📱

I spoke to Winslow CFA volunteer Sue Rondeau about how things are going a year after setting up community cupboards at fire stations across Moyne Shire, allowing rural families to access free supplies 24/7 with no stigma.

Darcie had a look at a rare Ballarat property with an interesting architectural history.