Wow, it is almost the end of Winter, and the Intrepid tribe vibes are keeping us pumped up. This year we have seen more and more young people step-up to act and lead with Landcare. We have certainly been on an adventure around Australia and to almost every state and territory – SA, TAS and NT, we will get there soon!
Here are some highlights:
During summer we launched Rise Up, Roots Down with WA Landcare Network to ignite youth action for Landcare in WA. We were able to support 3 incredible kick-start ideas, which saw young people in regional communities create and lead their own projects with local leaders. Love Your Beach for Valentine’s Day was an intrepid-romcom idea organised by Vanessa McGuiness in Geraldton. While in Busselton we saw local indigenous students learn about the importance of the Ngilgi Cave to indigenous culture, and then lead a tour for other students. And Jamie Lumsdaine from Margaret River recently polished off a recycling program with the local high school. Blair Darvill from WA Landcare Network has been an absolute legend to make this campaign happen for young people in WA.
Over the last 18months we have co-lead 3 X leadership retreats and multiple workshops to stimulate youth action across Sydney with the Greater Sydney Landcare Network. As part of their youth engagement strategy, working closely with Elisha Duxbury, who is an incredible young Landcare Coordinator, we have seen almost 60 young people step-up and do stuff that matters – create their own Intrepid tribes, take Landcare back to their schools, universities and workplaces, and connect on a deeper level with themselves, each other and their communities, and country and the environment. We have also supported local support officers, leaders and professionals through our Intrepid Way workshops, which walk people through a meaningful process and share lots of tips and ideas to support young people to create change. We will be co-leading the 4th retreat in Central Coast in December this year – see details below. Many thanks to Greater Sydney Landcare Network and thought leaders of Landcare in Sydney who are backing incredible young people to do stuff that matters! Be sure you read Elliot Connor’s story, an inspiring15yr old who is creating change for native plants and animals!
What else? Victoria is another state that has been embracing the Intrepid vibe. Gippsland Intrepid Landcare continues to surprise us, and with leading their own retreats, camp outs, and even launching their own online thread store – order a hoddie, tee, longsleeve shirt and all profits go back into their epic adventures. And read about Kelsey Tong’s latest leadership adventure with Gippy Intrepid. Intrepid Landcare also kick-started another tribe closer to Melbourne with Port Phillip and Western Port CMA and Western Port Catchment Landcare Network, who supported a retreat in Gembrook – see details below. And we will be heading to the westside to Geelong in September and there is further interest across Victoria. Alongside the efforts of the grassroots, we were contracted earlier this year to rethink youth engagement for Victoria Agriculture’s Weeds and Rabbits program. More details on this exciting project to come.
Between and among co-leading retreats, running workshops and researching strategies to connect, inspire and empower young people to do stuff that matters, we have expanded our facilitator team to take a bit of pressure off Megan and Naomi. This is exciting for Intrepid Landcare, as we will be able to reach further afar. We have also been refining some of our popular organising tools with a soon to be launched co-designed toolkit to share how we design stuff that matters. Patience and restorative downtime has also kept our feet on the ground and hands in the soil, guided by nurturing mentors and an intelligent Board and Contributors.
There seems to be so much on (all the time) and this is just a highlight of the fun we have. And as we giddy-up for National Landcare Conference in October, we are also grateful for the support of many individuals and organisations around Australia.
