Venerable local landcare group, Friends of the Canadian Corridor turns 10 this year and to mark the occasion, FoCC President, Bob Hartmann spoke about the work of the group at Ballarat Green Drinks on 20 October. If you missed it that's a great shame. It was a terrific talk - that began with the group's ambitious and very successful campaign to have a 641-hectare retired blue gum plantation, which was already envisaged as a new suburb, reserved for the Woowookarung Regional Park. An extraordinary achievement by anyone's measure. Established in 2016, Woowooarung became the site of many public tree- planting sessions, which have seen much of the clear felled land returned to native forest. More recent achievements include the Dementia Trail which was developed in partnership with several other bodies, including Dementia Advocate, Anne Tudor, who conceived the idea. Anne recently awarded the Premier’s Award for the Victorian Senior of the Year in 2021.
More recently FoCC applied for and received funding to expand the Bunny Rail Trail – linking Mt Clear to Woowookarung Regional Park – the current Bunny Rail Trail follows a short section of the old East Ballarat to Buninyong railway line.
Bob shared many of the group's strategies behind their success, such as the cleverly conceived 'Imagine' concept in which propositions are presented in positive only terms that avoid any allocation of blame, instead inviting others to share the possibilities and empowerment that conservation projects can bring.
Dedicated to connecting the Ballarat community with Woowookarung and the Canadian Corridor, tree planting, guided nature walks, a walk that takes in significant remnants of Ballarat's gold mining during Heritage Week, along with Citizen Science Projects such as the Koala Count, an increasingly vital resource in the struggle to protect the habitat of this iconic but endangered native species, are all part of the activities of FoCC. If you want to join or stay informed about what FoCC are up to you can subscribe to their monthly e-newsletter, Spiky - it's packed with FoCC activities and achievements.