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Lagoon Creek Catchment Group .
The Lagoon Creek Catchment Group was formed in the mid 1990’s by a small group of landholders in the Highland Plains district at the upper end of the catchment through the facilitation, support and encouragement of Peter Crawford. Don Ballon was elected as the first Chair while Brett Hassall accepted the Secretary Treasurer role.
The catchment extends from the Highland Plain and Silverleigh districts through the Greenwood, Acland and Jondaryan localities to the junction with Oakey Creek south of Bowenville.
As there is a very broad diversity of soil and vegetation types, and topographic features, the primary production ranges from a predominant grazing application in the upper catchment to an almost exclusive grain and fibre involvement at the lower end of the catchment.
Primary production in the upper catchment now includes coal with the New Hope Acland Mine and Pastoral Company a major landholder.
The group has benefited from several funding programs in the past including the NHT schemes, Envirofund, Gaming funds, and RIS.
On ground works have included weed control, fencing of remnant vegetation and riparian zones, development of watering points away from creeks, water quality, tree planting, soil fertility and planting equipment modification for minimal and zero tillage. The input and support by the ‘prison crew’ has greatly assisted with the implementation of the relevant programs in the field.
Several programs and much activity have been conducted in conjunction with neighbouring groups, due to the excellent support by the respective group and NED Co-ordinators.
Additionally, several workshops, including property planning have been conducted in the area.
The issues and concerns for the members include:
- Weeds - lippia, tree pear, knap weed, verbena and African love grass,
- Vegetation management, native grasses and trees,
- Soil erosion and sustainable farm practices.
The current committee is Graham Cooke – Chair, Adrian Schmidt – Secretary and Ben Muirhead – Treasurer.
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