2021 Western Australia Landcare Awards celebrate outstanding landcare champions

20/11/2021 | Winning landcare projects were announced yesterday at the 2021 Western Australia Landcare Awards at the Kalamunda Community Centre, where community landcarers from across the state came together to celebrate their impressive achievements.

The awards celebrate the incredible efforts of individuals and groups, young and old, to protect Western Australia's natural resources, stewarding a more resilient landscape for the future. The award winners and their projects are diverse, ranging from farming and Indigenous land management, to educational and mapping tools.

Mick Davis, Chair of the WA Landcare Network, thanked the award sponsors and paid tribute to the finalists and winners as champions of the landcare community.

"Last night's event was a fabulous celebration of the breadth of landcare volunteering in WA. The awards recognise individuals, groups and partnerships, importantly including First Nations custodians caring for country," he said.

"On behalf of the Western Australian landcare community, I would like to extend huge congratulations to all the finalists and winners in the award categories. We're seeing real and substantial outcomes from the dedication and commitment of community landcarers. It's critical that we continue to support and recognise their tremendous efforts."

Winners in National Award categories will represent Western Australia at the 2022 National Landcare Awards, to be held at Sydney's International Convention Centre, Darling Harbour, on Wednesday 24 August.

Landcare Australia CEO, Dr Shane Norrish, commended recipients of the Landcare Western Australia Awards on their outstanding accomplishments.

'It's an honour to be able to recognise the great work being carried out by our landcare champions in Western Australia," Dr Norrish said. "The Landcare Awards program provides landcarers with the ideal opportunity to get together and celebrate individual and collective achievements of landcare."

He added: "Landcarers across Australia deserve to be acknowledged, and we're looking forward to seeing the winners represent their communities at the National Landcare Awards next year."

2021 Western Australia Landcare Award Winners

Australian Government Landcare Farming Award

Sylvia Leighton and Peter McKenzie

Sylvia and Peter farm Wilyun Pools Farm, a 1214-hectare property located in Wellstead District, 100 kilometres northeast of Albany on the south coast. The property motto is "Seeking Balance."

Sylvia is a botanist, dedicated conservation and land management educator. In her role as a TAFE lecturer and leader of community workshops and field trips, she also serves as a mentor for scores of young people starting their careers in land management and farming.

In 1965, Sylvia was just a year old when her family arrived at their conditional purchase property, Wilyun Pools Farm, and set about clearing it for agriculture. Peter has a farm forestry and agriculture background and has worked with farmers across the region promoting integrated farm forestry. Together they are dedicated to returning the farm to a sustainable state using regenerative farming methods.

Regenerative farming has given them a network of fellow landholders with similar philosophies and language. They have adopted the three pillars of landcare and regenerative agriculture: healthy environment, healthy society and healthy economy. They believe in taking actions to increase their own and rural communities' societal wellbeing and are concerned about the loss of populations in rural areas brought on by the amalgamation of properties.

2021 Western Australia Landcare Award Winners

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