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Natural Area Volunteers
Group – Wednesday 19 June 2024
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NA24.1 Resignation
- Membership - Expression of Interest
HPERM Ref: D23/367954
Department: Business
Assurance & Risk
Approver: James
Ruprai, Director - City Development
Reason for Report
To advise the Natural Area
Volunteers Group of the resignations received from Ms Frances Bray –
Community Member (Lake Woollumboola Bush Care) and from Ms Diana Lindsay
(Callala Bushcare).
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Recommendation (Item to be determined under delegated authority)
That:
1. The Natural
Area Volunteers Group accept the resignation
received from Ms Frances Bray (community member) and thank her for her commitment to
the Committee.
2. The Natural
Area Volunteers Group accept the resignation
received from Ms Diana Lindsay (Callala Bushcare) and thank her for her interest in the
Committee.
3. The
vacancies be filled via an Expression of Interest as per the Terms of
Reference.
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Options
1. As recommended
Implications: The membership of the Natural Area
Volunteers Group will be reviewed and updated accordingly.
2. Adopt an
alternative resolution with direction for staff.
Implications: Unknown
Background
Council has received
notification from Frances Bray dated 6 September 2023 via email, indicating
that she is no longer able to attend meetings of the Natural Area Volunteers
Group and therefore wishes to submit her resignation.
Ms Lindsay notified Council on 12 February 2024 via email,
indicating that she can no longer be involved in the Committee.
Community
Consultations
Council staff have contacted all
the Volunteer Coordinators seeking nominations for membership.
As outlined in the Terms of
Reference in relation to Community Member Appointments:
· Nominations
should be advertised throughout the community via an Expression of Interest
(EOI) process.
· Appointments
to the Group will be for a three (3) year term with a set commencement and
finish date. Vacancies which are filled during the Group’s term will have
the same finish date.
· Vacancies
will be advertised to all registered Natural Area volunteers by the Bushcare
Coordinator.
NA24.2 Bushcare
Program Update
HPERM Ref: D24/154563
Department: Environmental
Services
Approver: James
Ruprai, Director - City Development
Reason for Report
This report provides an update
on the Bushcare Program.
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Recommendation
(Item to be determined under delegated authority)
That the Natural Area
Volunteers Group receive this update on the Bushcare Program for information.
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Options
1. Receive the
report as presented.
Implications: To provide
an update of Council’s Bushcare Program to the Natural Area Volunteer
Group and to permit the dissemination of key information pertaining to this program.
Background
The Shoalhaven local government
area (LGA) contains numerous natural environments which provides high quality
biodiversity values. This includes habitat for threatened species and
ecological communities listed under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016
(NSW) and/or Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
(Cth).
Council manages approximately
3,300 hectares of Natural Areas across 240 reserves. Most of these reserves are
located within or adjacent to urban areas and include a variety of natural
habitats comprising bushland, wetland, escarpments, foreshores, and dunes. Such
peri-urban environments have also been well studied to be capable of supporting
psychological well-being of the community by lowering psychophysical stress,
encouraging positive emotions, and aiding the renewal of cognitive resources.
Bushcare Volunteers have been
and continue to be an essential element in maintaining and improving Natural
Area reserves. The volunteers provide a high degree of value to the management of
the Shoalhaven LGA natural areas, particularly in reducing the impacts of
introduced and invasive weeds on environmentally sensitive areas.
This report provides an update on the Bushcare Program since
the last Natural Area Volunteers Group (NAVG) meeting in July 2023.
Bushcare
Program Update
Shoalhaven City Council’s
Bushcare Program has been operating for over 20 years. It employs a Coordinator
- Bushcare and currently, two geographically based casual Bushcare Field
Officers.
The central district Bushcare
Field Officer position remains vacant. The July 2023 NAVG meeting recommended
to Council to consider filling this position to maintain Council’s Work,
Health and Safety legislative obligations, the function and morale of central
district Bushcare Volunteers and equity across the Bushcare districts. This
recommendation was supported by Council on 14 August 2023 (MIN23.432): ‘That
Council fill the Central District Bushcare Officer role as soon as possible to
maintain function, morale, supervisory responsibilities particularly from a
Work, Health and Safety legislative obligation perspective (as volunteers are
defined as workers under the Work, Health and Safety Act 2011) and equity
across the Bushcare districts and if necessary, that funding be sourced at a
future quarterly budget review’. Unfortunately, this position remains
unfilled due to budgetary constraints.
The program continues to be
supported by two part-time indigenous bush regenerators.
David Rush began in the role of
Coordinator - Bushcare in mid-January 2024.
Each group has a Volunteer Group
Coordinator and northern and southern district groups have the support of a
Bushcare Field Officer (casual positions) to ensure safety and help
strategically and technically guide groups in accordance with their Bushcare Group
Action Plans. The central district groups are currently being supported by the
Coordinator - Bushcare.
There are currently 59 active
Bushcare groups (including Bushcare, Dunecare, Community Nursery and
‘Friends of’ groups) with approximately 660 registered volunteers.
Not all registered volunteers are active.
The reported volunteer hours and
the number of Bushcare groups reporting are illustrated in Figure 1. The
amount of volunteer recording sheets for 2023 (43) is slightly lower than 2022
(47). However, the number of Bushcare volunteer hours recorded for 2023 is
higher than that recorded for 2022.
Figure 1 Bushcare
volunteer hours and the number of groups reporting.
Community
Engagement
The Bushcare Links eNewsletter
continues to be produced each quarter. There are currently just over 500
subscribers.
Other community engagement
events that were conducted since the last NAVG meeting include:
· National
Tree Day – Dolphin Point
· Bushcare/Parkcare
volunteer Christmas picnic
· Trinity
College (Woollamia Campus students) working bees at Currambene Creek Reserve,
Huskisson
· Shoalhaven Heads
Botanical Gardens event.
Bushcare
Group Action Plans
The Coordinator – Bushcare
is currently reviewing existing Bushcare Action Plans, and the writing of new
plans where needed, to ensure that these are contemporaneous.
A prioritised list of all
Bushcare Action Plans has been formulated. Those with the highest priority are
new sites, and those that have older plans or changed site areas (e.g.,
Boongaree).
The following Bushcare Group
Action Plans have been drafted and are currently being reviewed:
· Mahogany
Creek
· Fishermans
Paradise
· Bannister
Head Road
· Wrights
Beach.
The following Bushcare Action
Plans are currently being drafted:
· Basin
Walking Track
· Red
Head Villages (Manyana, Cunjurong Point)
· Orient
Point
· River
Road (Shoalhaven Heads, Jerry Bailey Reserve).
Notably, the review of the Bushcare Action Plans is an
action from a previous Council audit with a completion date of the 30 June
2024.
Current Issues and
Opportunities
Although the overall recorded
volunteer hours indicate a positive upward trend since the impacts of COVID-19
restrictions in preceding years, the central district Bushcare groups do not
have the same level of support as other areas. As this has led to the cessation
of a group within this district, this may result in some natural areas
receiving less volunteer hours.
A Work Health and Safety (WHS)
audit of the Bushcare Program was carried out by Council in 2023. The following
actions were derived:
o Site
recording sheets - need to be reviewed to ensure that these are being filled in
correctly and provided to Council.
o First
aid kits – regular inspections and updating.
o Supervision
- review of the Bushcare budget to ensure adequate resourcing and the
determination of the level of supervision required under the Work Health and
Safety Act 2011 (NSW).
o New
volunteers - development of an induction checklist.
o Training
- provision of adequate WHS training.
The Bushcare volunteer registration database will be
reviewed over the coming months. This will be carried out to ensure all active
volunteers are included and that the records for those that are no longer
volunteering are archived. This is done in collaboration with the Bushcare
Volunteer Coordinators and was last done in 2022.
Financial
Implications
Between 2009 and 2023 (calendar
years inclusive), Bushcare volunteers have contributed at least 168,900 hours.
At a rate of $40/hour, this equates to a total of $6.76 million (an average of
$450,401 per year). This represents a significant contribution to the
improvement and maintenance of Council-managed Natural Areas.
For the 2023 calendar year, the
recorded volunteers contributed 10,046 hours valued at $401,820.
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Natural Area
Volunteers Group – Wednesday 19 June 2024
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NA24.3 Bushcare
Fact Sheets
HPERM Ref: D24/229753
Department: Environmental
Services
Approver: James
Ruprai, Director - City Development
Attachments: 1. Draft
fact sheet - Thinking of being a Bushcare Volunteer? ⇩
2. Draft
fact sheet - Volunteer Bushcare Group Coordinator ⇩
3. Draft fact sheet - Bushcare
Group Safety Checklist ⇩
Reason for Report
To seek feedback on draft fact
sheets prepared regarding the Bushcare Program
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Recommendation
(Item to be determined under delegated authority)
That the Natural Areas
Volunteer Group receive the draft fact sheets for information and provide
feedback for their improvement.
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Options
1. The Natural Area
Volunteer Group (NAVG) receive the draft fact sheets and provide feedback to
improve these.
Implications: Changes will be able to be made to
improve the factsheets, which will then be made available to the public
2. The NAVG provide
other advice.
Implications: This will depend on the nature of the
advice provided.
Background
The Bushcare/Parkcare Procedures
were tabled at the last meeting of the NAVG. As a result, the NAVG:
1. Endorsed the
Bushcare related aspects of the draft Bushcare/Parkcare Procedures.
2. Requested that
fact sheets be produced in collaboration with Bushcare volunteers to ensure the
procedures are understandable and provide a means for volunteers to provide
feedback to Council.
These recommendations were
endorsed by Council on 14 August 2023 (MIN23.431).
Accordingly, there are three
draft fact sheets attached to this report for review. These are:
· Thinking
of Being a Bushcare Volunteer? (D24/229660)
· Being
a Bushcare Coordinator (D24/227713)
· Bushcare
Group Safety (D24/228190)
The intention is to create two
additional fact sheets in the coming months. These will be:
· Establishing
a New Bushcare Group
· Bushcare
Group Action Plans.
