Port Macquarie Landcare

Postal Address
PO Box 5287
Port Macquarie, NSW 2444

Port Macquarie Landcare (Incorporated) is a rapidly growing organisation of volunteers dedicated to improving the land and related environments within our area of responsibility. We are based in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia.

We aim to contribute to ecosystem restoration of urban bushland, waterways, coastal and marine environments, increase community awareness and foster liaisons with like-minded organisations. This is a particularly important role because our region with its warm summers, very mild winters and excellent rainfall hosts a vast range of vulnerable native plants, including many native orchids, as well as birds and animals.

Our geographic area of operation is the Port Macquarie urban district and surrounding region. We extend eastward to Lord Howe Island in the Pacific Ocean.

Our membership includes volunteers from various backgrounds with a wide range of experience and expertise.  A beginner interested in contributing to the environment can happily work beside an experienced landcarer with years of experience and multiple tertiary qualifications.

Port Macquarie Landcare’s volunteers are people of the highest calibre.  Almost every one could easily justify abandoning Landcare on the grounds of competing commitments, but they never seem to. In fact they often seek opportunities to move their projects forward and contribute even more.  We all are proud to be members of this exceptional team.

We have always been and intend to remain accepting of any environmentally concerned people. Our Constitution reinforces this by proclaiming that age, race, religion, political views or sexual orientation are not to be a bar to membership.

In addition to more than 20 environmental restoration projects we operate a large, semi-automated nursery dedicated to raising native plants from seeds collected in this region.  We are thus the regional genetic repository for native vegetation.  Our nursery provides seedlings and root-stock to our projects and to the local municipal council as well as other governmental bodies.  Noting the cost advantage conferred by our all-volunteer workforce we will not compete with commercial nurseries.

We also have an integrated relationship with an underwater research group concerned with protecting and developing the marine environment.  At present our underwater group is mapping sea-grass distribution.

All of this has been achieved in just over ten years. In fact we are about to bestow honorary life membership upon our longest serving members. 
In recording our successes we must acknowledge the strong financial and other support we have received from businesses at the national and local levels as well as support from the Commonwealth, State and Municipal authorities.

We are conscious of the faith they have shown in us and we are always aware of the need to repay their trust by achieving high quality and enduring outcomes that can be viewed and measured.

The immediate future looks like being at least as exciting as the past. We will in 2009 be working with the Port Macquarie Hastings (Municipal) Council to forge a new strategic liaison in which we will communicate more closely and prioritise activities to achieve the best community outcomes possible. This work will be undertaken in the face of a rapidly expanding human population bringing with it the need to plan for an appropriate human and flora/fauna interface.

We look forward to this challenge, particularly as our municipal authorities are at the absolute cutting edge of urban planning.  They recently won several prestigious awards for their advanced work.

Longer term, the human population increase is expected to continue.  Climate change models indicate that this region might not be radically affected in the foreseeable future (providing yet another magnet for human settlement) although rising sea levels are likely to eventually pose issues. 

We resist exclusively short-term objectives.  Based on our performance to date we are optimistic that Port Macquarie Landcare will remain viable and engaged as these events unfold over the next century.  In fact, we are already engaged in consultations on greenbelt areas for the next 100 years and beyond.

If you are interested in contacting us please write to:

Port Macquarie Landcare Group Inc
PO Box 5287
Port Macquarie NSW 2444
Australia

We are establishing a website and it will have a contact point.  Details will be posted as soon as available.