Welcome
Welcome to the latest edition of Streamline, North Central Catchment Management Authority's e-newsletter.
Published quarterly, Streamline showcases a range of topics. Whether you're interested in how we are managing our region's waterways, wanting to know about upcoming events or just want to catch up on the latest news, Streamline provides you with the latest information on natural resource management.
If you would like to subscribe to Streamline or would like a hard copy then please email mailto:info@nccma.vic.gov.au or if you would like to unsubscribe, click here.
Latest News
Reclaiming our Creeks
The North Central Catchment Management Authority (CMA) along with the Northern Grampians and Buloke Shire Landcare groups are helping one of North Central Waterwatch's longest serving volunteers realise a long held vision to reclaim our creeks from the effects of salinity, erosion and weed invasion.
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| Anne conducting water sampling |
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| Spraying Spiny Rush |
Anne has been a North Central Waterwatch volunteer for many years and joined the Community Stream Sampling Project at its inception.
For many years now Anne has been carrying out a number of important water quality tests at 15 regular sites along Middle Creek, Shearing Shed Creek and its tributaries including local swamps and dams.
Salinity is one of the major issues around this district and Anne's monitoring is helping to provide the North Central CMA and our Shires with valuable data that other community, government and non-government agencies can access.
In Anne's search for water to test for salinity, as well as her passion for seeking out the threatened Growling Grass Frog, she stumbled across a site on Middle Creek which stunned her.
She came across a section of the creek that was well vegetated and measured very low salinity levels, however just 50m downstream there was bare ground aside from some spiny rush and the salinity was significantly higher.
It got her thinking why we should tolerate a declining situation when we can have one that is stable, sustainable, and healthy and provides long term benefits for our waterways and the communities that depend on them.
A key result coming out of the 'Reclaim Our Creeks' project has been to identify the lack of manpower within the Carapooee Landcare Group, in terms of their ability to undertake on-ground works, time and financial constraints.
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| Anne discussing works progress |
The crew have been spraying spiny rush along sections of Middle Creek, Carapooee Creek and Shearing Shed Creek for the past 3 weeks. These Creeks have also been targeted for new fencing and revegetation.
The crew is doing a great job helping to return the creek to something that landholders and community can be proud of. The next task for the Drought Recovery works crew is to revegetate the already fenced off sections of the Creek.
Anne's pleased to see her vision get off the ground.
"It's a great example of how a motivated group of people working together with the support of government funding can make a positive impact to the health of our waterways".
The success of this project is being closely monitored by Anne who will continue to do monthly water quality testing and photo-point monitoring at all 15 sites.
If you would like more information about the Waterwatch Program or the Community Stream Sampling Project please contact Melanie Barrot at melanie.barrot@nccma.vic.gov.au or on 0427 887 254.
Bendigo Creek Holds a Rare Surprise
It may come as a surprise to many, but the Bendigo Creek provides some extremely important habitat. Recently, a lively and somewhat noisy population of the threatened Growling Grass Frogs was discovered in the Creek.
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| The Growling Grass Frog. Photo courtesy Lydia Fucsko |
North Central Catchment Management Authority's Waterwatch program has developed a successful community based frog monitoring program to help identify remaining populations of threatened frog species.
The program, which is co-sponsored by Coliban Water and the City of Greater Bendigo, trains community members to identify frogs by their mating call.
This recent find of Growling Grass Frogs is fantastic. Initially, when the community monitor reported that they had found Growling Grass Frogs in Bendigo Creek we were very surprised, the species hasn't been recorded in the creek for about 15 years.
It's difficult to say whether this population has been there the whole time, undetected, or maybe it's a new population. Regardless, it's just great that they are there!
Once very common, the Growling Grass frog is now rare throughout its range especially in north central Victoria. It is listed as threatened under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988, with populations declining steadily over the past few decades.
They're quite a large frog, reaching about 10cm long as an adult, and are quite distinctive with their green and gold markings and characteristic growling noise, which can be heard during their mating season.
This is the second significant threatened species find in the Bendigo area within a month, the first was the Eltham Copper butterfly in Bendigo National Park. Both finds were the result of enthusiastic community members investigating the natural environment.
These significant finds demonstrate that anyone has the ability to help conserve our precious native biodiversity.
The information this program is able to provide to the community, through a range of biodiversity education and monitoring programs, is giving people who are interested in threatened species the skills needed to make positive and important contributions.
For more information about the North Central Waterwatch frog monitoring program please contact the North Central CMA on 5448 7124.
Maintaining Little Lake Boort Drought Refuge
In early February we announced the release of 100 million litres of Loddon River Wetland Entitlement water to Little Lake Boort. This release is part of the identified environmental outcomes to wetland areas in the Boort District.
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| Little Lake Boort January 2008. Photo courtesy Paul Haw |
The release follows a review by a number of agencies designed to deliver the best possible environmental outcomes for the district.
In September 2007 a 5% allocation was announced by Goulburn-Murray Water for the Loddon River system, which ensured that 100 million litres was made available to the Boort district wetlands.
Since then we have been actively engaging with the Boort community to ensure that Little Lake Boort is provided a beneficial drought refuge. Little Lake Boort is the only drought refuge between Laanecoorie and Kerang, a distance of approximately 128km.
Despite the welcome recent rain events in late 2007 and early 2008, the ongoing effects of the drought continue to place considerable stress on the region, the environment and its people.
Little Lake Boort does not have a natural catchment and requires around 600 million litres of water a year to counter evaporation. The lake, which was annexed from Lake Boort in the early 1920s, dried up in 2002/03.
Local residents and the Shire welcomed the news of the release of water because Little Lake Boort is a very important refuge in times of drought, especially for tortoises, water rats, a number of species of frogs, bats, native fish, and waders.
So any water that can help maintain this important eco-system is a benefit for the Region and the people who use it.
The lake continues to provide a habitat for wildlife, and also a pleasant social venue for the community in these difficult times.
Our Drought Employment Program Work Crews are Getting On With the Job
During January we invited community members and groups to apply to become a member of one of our eleven works crews employed as part of the North Central CMA 2008 Drought Employment Program.
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| "Weed busters at work" |
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| "Works crew at Winjallok" |
We have also been working closely with our partners Goulburn Murray Water in the Pyramid Boort area and with Parks Victoria near Terrick Terrick National Park to develop a suite of program works for three works crews within this local area.
The crew in the Pyramid Boort area will be responsible for fencing, controlling weeds and working on water efficiencies. The works program around Terricks will predominately involve forest management including fencing and pest plant and animal control.
This vital program is built around a partnership approach with government agencies to employ the landholders and communities of our region. It is a demonstration of our continued commitment to investing in significant on-ground natural resource management changes, which have a focus of positioning our natural resources to be better placed to recover from the dry times.
If you would like more information about this program or how you can be involved then please call the North Central CMA on 1800 751 751 or visit our website and click the Drought Relief Packages Icon on the home page.
Eagle Tree Gets a Much Needed Drink!
During January nine volunteers from the Kerang unit of the State Emergency Service (SES) helped finalise the last stages of preparation for an emergency watering of Gunbower Forest's iconic 'Eagle Tree'.
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| Volunteers from the Kerang unit of the SES placing sand bags in preparation for the watering of Gunbower Forest's iconic 'Eagle Tree' |
While watering a single tree is a little outside the work we usually do in the forest, this tree is quite exceptional and there simply aren't many of them left alive anymore.
Eagle Tree is estimated to be over 1,000 years old and stands approximately 50 metres in height. Its health is declining due to extremely dry conditions and old age.
The response for assistance with the project has been great. In working out the best way to water the tree we had assistance from Stan Archard of Archard's Irrigation and Cliff Dillon from Wrigley Dillon soil services. Murray Goulburn Cooperative even offered to cart water in there using their milk tankers and sand bags were filled using 10 cubic metres of sand provided by Luke Douglas, a local resident.
Our organisation approached the SES to see if they could sand bag an area around the tree to provide a moat area to deliver the water into. After seeing this tree, and learning what is going on they were thrilled to be part of a project like this.
While the ecological benefits are expected to be short term, this tree really symbolises the plight of the River Red Gum forests that are suffering from a lack of water due to lower rainfall and reduced flooding.
One of the aims of this project is to help raise the awareness of these forests and the benefits of water donations in helping to save areas such as these.
It's been fantastic to see it all coming together and the willingness of everyone to help get this project off the ground is a wonderful example of community partnerships delivering real on-ground outcomes that benefit the forest and those that use it.
Loddon River Tour - A Successful Learning Experience
In late December 2007 we organised a tour of the Loddon River to showcase best practice land management activities on waterways. According to everyone who joined the tour they took a lot from the experience.
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| Tour of 12 Mile Creek at Yando |
There were also representatives from Goulburn-Murray Water, the Department of Primary Industries, as well as our very own staff join us so they could hear the challenges and successes of managing river frontages first hand from those who live and farm in the area.
The tour took in a visit to an old in-stream structure known as the 12 Mile Creek regulator at Yando, located on an anabranch of the Loddon River.
This site visit set the scene for the day, because it prompted constructive group discussions regarding future management considerations, which helps provide our organisation with a better understanding of local opinions and possible options to pursue in the future.
The tour also visited a property we are providing funding to for river fencing, off-stream watering and revegetation to highlight the benefits of reducing stock access to the riparian vegetation along the river.
This demonstration site showcases how careful management of stock grazing along the riparian zone, even after river fencing has been erected, can still result in grasses, planted shrubs and River Red Gums growing healthily and providing excellent habitat for fauna.
These works also help filter the dirt and leaves from directly entering the river, which can lead to water quality problems. Also, by limiting stock access to riparian land it provides a win-win for both the health of the river, the health of the livestock and the productivity of the landholder.
A picnic lunch was enjoyed on the banks of the river, upstream of Loddon Weir near Serpentine on a property owned by Garry Addlem's family.
The tour benefited from having someone like Garry address them and talk about his involvement and experience with our organisation to fence and revegetate his own river frontage, and how those changes have been a benefit for him and the river.
As Garry said "Every farmer is interested in the environment, as well as making sure we're doing the right thing by the land we use. If you screw it up, then it affects your business".
Big Day Out for River Detectives
Back in late November 2007 more than 50 students from several local primary schools joined North Central Waterwatch for a day of environmental education and exploration. Students from Welton Primary School, Elmore Primary School and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (Elmore), were taken for a tour of the Gunbower State Forest and the surrounding Region as part of National Water Week 2007 celebrations.
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| Students giving a presentation on their work as 'River Detectives' |
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| Students check out the Torrumbarry Weir |
As part of the tour, students were taken to Torrumbarry Weir for an exclusive presentation from the 'Weir Keeper', who explained the purpose of the structure and how it operated.
Part of that tour included a discussion of the 'fish ladder', which really captured the interest of the students, many of whom were also keen fishermen/women. It was great for the students to see some of the work that is being done to help ensure that one of their favourite pastimes remains sustainable.
They also got to meet Heidi Magner and Katherine Stanislawski, Environmental Flow Officers from the North Central Catchment Management Authority, who discussed the issues of river regulation, the affects of limited flooding on wetlands of Gunbower State Forest and the ways the forest and wetlands are being assisted.
One of the most popular stops for the day was Reedy Lagoon at Gunbower State Forest. The students especially loved the bright green 'Starwort' that carpeted the ground. They even stopped for a moment, laid back, closed their eyes and silently listened to the birds calling in the surrounding red gum trees for one magical minute.
The tour then continued on to the Treetops Scout Hall for a yummy sausage sizzle put on by the Cohuna Lions Club. After lunch each school put on a 10 minute presentation of the work they had been doing over the past as part of the River Detectives program.
After the presentations, Bernadine Kelly, a Landcare volunteer from Echuca, set up 11 water experiments and activities for the students to take turns participating in. Young Rachel Fabbri from Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Schools particularly liked these activities, "My favourite was where you shake the bottle and made it a tornado to show how water goes down the drain".
North Central Waterwatch has been actively engaging with the communities of this Region for more than a decade now. Our focus is on connecting local communities with river health and sustainable water management issues.
The interest and enthusiasm of thousands of community members like these special young people, who volunteer their time monitoring learning about and caring for their local waterways is truly inspiring and fills the CMA with confidence that our monitoring future is in great hands.
Special Events
Celebrating 21 years of Landcare
From modest beginnings on a property in Winjallok located in north central Victoria in 1986 to an iconic rural brand, Landcare is celebrating 21 years here in our region.
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| Before - Winjallok 1986 |
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| After - Winjallok 2007 |
Landcare in North Central has grown to over 180 groups of locally-based community people who have implemented hundreds of environmental projects over the years.
Landcare in North Central is thriving and this event celebrated the passion, dedication and commitment of volunteers to their surrounding environment.
The Launch of the DVD is recognition of the achievements of all Landcare members and groups throughout the Region and covers the history of Landcare from its inception to the present, with a focus on the impacts Landcare and partner agencies like the North Central CMA have had on the communities of north central Victoria.
Landcare groups first emerged in Victoria in 1986 with the enthusiastic support of former Minister for Conservation and later Premier Joan Kirner who launched the first group at Winjalock. It was an opportunity for soil conservationists, extension agents and farmers, who were attracted by Landcare's core elements of self help, public participation and cooperative efforts at the local community level.
Nationally, the Landcare movement has evolved to become an icon that engages a wide variety of people and interest groups. More than 4,000 volunteer community Landcare groups are tackling land degradation in every corner of Australia.
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| Images of the Evening |
"All around Australia, Landcare volunteers are proving that together we can repair and viably manage our precious natural resources. This unique partnership between landholders, communities and government agencies such as the CMA continues to achieve great things," said Dr MacBean.
Landcare represents more than simply planting trees; it's an important part of the social 'glue' of many rural communities bringing people together to improve our farmlands, help breath new life into our waterways, restoring wildlife habitats and protecting our urban environment.
Landcare has achieved many successes in its short history, and to think that what began as a small but passionate gathering of like minded people in this Region now represents a successful foundation for further integration of sustainable production and conservation management throughout rural Australia is something we should all be proud of.
North Central CMA's Community & Partnerships Manager, Allison Long thanked everyone for making this event a great success.
"The event attracted more than 240 people, and we extend our sincere thanks to Powercor Australia for their generous support and Libby Price from ABC's Country Hour for her contibution to the evening".
If you would like a copy of the DVD simply call North Central CMA on (03) 5448 7124 or email info@nccma.vic.gov.au
Gunbower DVD - A Community Story
During November last year the North Central Catchment Management Authority released the 'Gunbower Forest - Flooding For Life' DVD, which highlights the many values of Gunbower Forest.
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| Official Opening at the Cohuna Secondary College Cheese, Wine and Art show. |
We continue to work with many partners in delivering the Living Murray 'Flooding Enhancement of Gunbower Forest' project, which aims to protect and restore the environmental values of Gunbower through improved management of water.
Many of the plant and animal communities rely on regular flooding to survive and are severely impacted by the continuation of drought conditions and river regulation. Artificial flooding enables these ecological communities to stay alive and be around for everyone to enjoy.
The aim of the DVD is to celebrate the forest and community members who use it. The DVD also allows the community to share their thoughts on why Gunbower is a special place to them.
The DVD explains the use of environmental water and its importance to protect the internationally significant wetlands, waterbirds and the iconic red gums. It also showcases the many threatened species in the forest and the results achieved to date by watering the forest.
On behalf of our project team we thank all the community members for being involved in the production of the DVD and its launch.
If you'd like a copy of the "Gunbower Forest - Flooding For Life DVD" then please call us on (03) 5448 7124 or email us on mailto:info@nccma.vic.gov.au
Snapshot of Our Region
During 2007 we ran a highly successful regional photographic competition 'Snapshot of a Region' in recognition of World Environment Day. The winning photographs, from hundreds entered, were announced in celebration of World Environment Day.
World Environment Day provides us an opportunity to examine the state of our environment, as well as encouraging communities to work together in preserving our region's natural and cultural surroundings.
The photography competition, aimed to help the North Central CMA showcase the natural features of this Region and raise awareness of the community's work to protect and improve our environment.
We thank everyone who entered for taking the time to show us their 'snap shot' of the North Central Victorian region. We were overwhelmed with the beauty and unique images that were captured.
We received photos based around the themes identified in the North Central Regional Catchment Strategy - biodiversity, climate, community, cultural heritage, dryland, infrastructure, irrigated land, public land, water resources, waterways and wetlands, as well as Under 18
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| A selection of photos from the competition. |
- Dr James McArdle, Senior Lecturer Photography, La Trobe University.
- Tansy Curtin, Curator, Bendigo Art Gallery.
- Adrian Martins, Biodiversity Project Officer, North Central CMA.
Winners included:
- Dryland Category- Heather Bennett
- Under 18 Category- Monique Bricknell
- Irrigation Category- Katie Richardson
- Water Resources Category- Pauline Robinson
- Climate Category- Maggie Whittaker
- Biodiversity Category- Damien Cook
- Waterways and Wetlands Category- Rose-Ann Mulholland
- Community Category- Lynn Angus
- Culture Category- Maddie Durie
Honourable Mentions included:
- Under 18 Category- Cherish Parker
- Climate Category- Marko Ivetic
- Biodiversity Category- Christopher King
- Community Category- Kerrie Barker
- Culture Category - Sara Sinclaire
A Message from our Board
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| North Central Catchment Management Authority's Chair, Dr Ian MacBean |
On behalf of the Board and the Natural Resource Management Committee of North Central Catchment Management Authority welcome to our latest edition of Streamline.
The North Central Catchment Management Authority's key role is to provide leadership, coordination and integration of sustainable natural resource management for the benefit of our rivers and the communities that depend on them.
The Board applies the skills and experience of its members to determine the strategic directions for the CMA and to monitor the successful realisation of the investments of public money for which we are responsible. The Board takes account of, and integrates, community priorities and scientific knowledge with the policy guidelines from government to determine our strategic and investment plans.
We also rely on the expertise and dedication of our professional staff. Their enthusiasm is appreciated and inspiring.
In November 2007, the Board continued the development of its advisory committee structure by launching the Natural Resource Management Committee, which is an evolution from our previous Implementation Committee structure.
The Natural Resource Management Committee (NRMC) works closely with the Board to play a pivotal role in identifying natural resource management investment priorities across the north central Region of Victoria as part of the CMA's Regional Catchment Strategy (RCS).
Key to the new committee's effectiveness will be their ability to engage and capture the perspectives of the on-ground issues and ideas from the wider community, which informs the Board on natural resource investment priorities for the region.
NRMC members represent a wide and varied geographical and community base; they bring a valuable range of business and industry skills and experience to the table that will help guide us in our engagement and investment opportunities.
The makeup of the new committee allows it to be across a variety of regional issues, ideas and importantly the attitudes of the wider north central community.
The role of the NRMC is an important link in which the North Central CMA is provided with the best possible solutions and current thinking from the community. This will enable us to target our investment in community-endorsed regional priorities for managing our region's natural resources.
If you would like more information on either our Board or NRMC members please click on the following links.
Board http://www.nccma.vic.gov.au/About_Us/Board/index.aspx
NRMC http://www.nccma.vic.gov.au/About_Us/NaturalResourceManagement/index.aspx
Our Performance Stories
Each edition of Streamline will showcase a key performance story. Not only will they tell our story around the results, they also provide an insight into what was achieved, what we learnt and what's now possible in delivering on our vision.
This edition focuses on 'Caring for our Rivers' - The Loddon Stressed River Project.
About the Project
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In 2002, the Loddon River was listed as a flow-stressed river in the Victorian River Health Strategy. Since then the North Central Catchment Management Authority has invested over $3.8 million of Victorian Government funding towards improving the health of the flow-regulated waterways of the Loddon catchment.
The project focuses on the Loddon River downstream of Cairn Curran Reservoir (366km long), Tullaroop Creek (48km long) and Birches Creek (43km long). The principle behind the Loddon Stressed River Project is that the community has a key role to play in reconnecting with their waterways and learning how to manage their river frontages in a more sustainable manner.
The plants along the riverbanks need the opportunity to grow and take their place in the food cycle of the river ecosystem without being eaten by livestock, logs that were once taken out require reinstatement for fish habitat, exotic willow trees spreading throughout native riparian vegetation need controlling, and fish must once again be able to move freely along waterways to be able to breed.
By implementing established river health management practices we aim to halt further river degradation by limiting stock access to the river to ensure native water plants, shrubs and trees have a chance to grow and regenerate naturally.
Our on-ground Actions
In recent years the North Central River Health Strategy (2005) has provided greater strategic direction and justification for the delivery of on-ground works, including the establishment of both short and long-term output and outcome based targets, such as the Management Action Targets and Resource Condition Targets. As a result, our understanding of river health and the methodologies used to implement, monitor and evaluate on-ground works have evolved.
The first Loddon Stressed River bid (2003/2004) encompassed the full range of river health components including:
- environmental flows
- vegetation management
- channel form
- in-stream habitat
- wetlands
- water quality
- Cultural heritage and community engagement.
Over recent years, as our understanding of the river system and community attitudes has evolved, our interventions have been adapted accordingly. Less investment was placed on revegetation due to drought conditions, while the demand for off-stream watering increased in proportion with the increased demand for river fencing as the low river levels meant it was no longer a natural barrier for stock movement between properties.
Re-snagging was attempted for only the second time in the north central Region in 2005/2006, as well as significant investment in willow management along the river.
Our on-ground Achievements
The project continues to focus on slowing and even possibly reversing the decline in river health. Delivering improved management techniques to waterway frontages, both directly - through the landholder incentives and indirectly - through community engagement and research, we continue to see significant positive results.
To date the North Central Catchment Management Authority, together with its partner agencies, have provided river health incentives to almost 100 landholders across the project area since 2003. This has resulted in the following on-ground achievements:
- 188km of riparian fencing protecting 413ha has been erected to alleviate the pressure of stock access on the remnant vegetation and riverbanks within the riparian zone.
- 22km of additional riparian fencing erected within which 94,000 grasses and shrubs have been established. This has lead to enhancing 250ha to boost the diversity of plants and the habitat they provide.
- 63ha of exotic Crack Willow and Weeping Willow has been removed from the riparian vegetation to increase the natural state of the riparian and in-stream habitat.
- 3.8km of large woody habitat along the Loddon River has been reinstated (for aquatic insects, fish and platypus) to replace logs that were once removed.
- 12 bed and bank erosion control structures have been constructed to reduce the amount of sediment entering from tributaries that fill the naturally deep pools in the river bed that are favoured by the threatened Murray Cod.
- 360ha of riparian land has been protected to encourage grass growth on the banks to catch sediment and manure before it washes into the waterway.
- 140 off-stream watering systems have been provided to offer alternative sources of water for livestock as a result of fencing waterway frontages i.e. pipes and water troughs in adjacent paddocks.
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| Condition in the Loddon Stressed River Project Area |
What's Making Environmental News
Northern Region Sustainable Water Strategy
The Northern Region Sustainable Water Strategy is a Victorian Government initiative to secure our water future at a regional level.
The communities of the Northern Region are encouraged to participate in this important initiative. Public comment on The Discussion Paper closed 17 March 2008, however for more information visit the Department of Sustainability and Environment.
$2.5bn for ecology
Regional community authorities and farmers will have access to a share of hundreds of millions of government funding for environmental projects under a new fund.
The Rudd Government last night unveiled the $2.25billion Caring for our Country fund, which will also deliver funding for a series of pre-election promises, including $200million for the Great Barrier Reef, $100million to repair and protect fragile coastal eco-systems and $2million to fund efforts to halt the southward march of Queensland cane toads.
The new fund is the result of the amalgamation of a range of environmental and land protection programs that existed under the Howard government.
These included the Natural Heritage Trust, National Landcare and the Environmental Stewardship and Working on Country programs.
Environment Minister Peter Garrett and Agriculture Minister Tony Burke designed the new model to reduce administrative inefficiencies, double-dipping and alleged rorting.
Source (The Australian - Matthew Franklin - March 14, 2008)
ecoMarkets
In July 2006 the Victorian Government released a statement called Our Environment, Our Future which outlines the state's efforts to start improving the quality of the environment and the way we live. This statement contains 150 key actions in a bid to make Victoria a sustainable state by responding to a growing number of environmental impacts that we are faced with.
The ecoMarkets project is a component of Our Environment, Our Future which uses a comprehensive, market-based approach to environmental policy to achieve a full range of ecosystem services.
For more information visit the Department of Sustainability and Environment Conservation and Environment page.
Zoos unite to save endangered frogs
Australasian zoos are joining forces today to save the world's endangered frogs. A $400,000 dollar fundraising campaign was recently announced at Taronga Zoo.
For more information see the article
Rudd seeks study of soil's role in carbon storage
The federal government has decided to investigate how soil management by farmers can help tackle climate change, by examining how carbon storage in soils can be enhanced.
For more information see the article
MDI's Air Car to be built in Melbourne
If you're a fan of alternative fuel technologies, then chances are you've heard of the Air Car. Originally conceived by former Formula 1 engineer Guy Negre back in 1991, the MDI "Air Cars" (officially termed the OneCAT, CityCAT and MiniCAT) can run purely on a tank of compressed air, or combined with combustible fuels such as ethanol or LPG for extended range.
For more information see the article
Dates to Remember
March 20 - World Day for Water
World Water Day 2008 highlights issues on sanitation. People around the world are encouraged to celebrate the day to draw attention to the world's sanitation challenge.
Click for more information.
March 21 - World Forestry DayWorld Forestry Day has been celebrated around the world for 30 years to remind communities of the importance of forests and the many benefits we gain from them.
Click for more information.
March 29 - Earth Hour
Created to take a stand against the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming.
Sign up for Earth Hour with me by visiting http://www.earthhour.org/sign-up and join the movement.
May 4 - 10 - Saltwatch Week
Saltwatch is an environmental monitoring program that helps communities better understand the salinity problem. Saltwatch began in 1987 and is now Australia's longest running community water monitoring program.
For more information visit http://www.saltwatch.org.au/saltwatch/info.htm
June 5 - World Environment Day
World Environment Day, commemorated each year on 5 June, is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action.
For more information visit http://www.unep.org/wed/2008/english/
June 8 - World Oceans Day
The world's oceans cover more than 70% of our planet's surface and the rich web of life they support is the result of hundreds of millions of years of evolution. Nomadic peoples were collecting shellfish and harvesting fish long before the dawn of settled agriculture.
For more information visit http://www.theoceanproject.org/wod/
June 23-29 - Arbor Week
Arbor Week in Victoria is an annual week of planting of native species of plants combined with environmental education activities. It has two aims, which are to increase environmental awareness in all school children and their local communities and to increase the amount of native vegetation in Victoria.
For more information visit http://www.nrcl.org.au/arbor.php
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