AABR’s National Forum, The R’s of Restoration was a huge success if that can be measured by the 23 Agency organisations attending, the 250 tickets sold, the buzz of excitement that accompanied the delicious food during the breaks, the smiles and happiness that effused from The Napier Hotel, till late into the evening, and the 36 evaluation responses.

Some of the interesting aspects of the attendees were that approximately 40% were from government agencies, 30% were on-ground practitioners, 20% were businesses/consultants/not for profits and 10% students.

The themes covering reconnecting to Country, restoration approaches and monitoring were all considered relevant and there’s been a great list of potential topics provided for future forums too.

As to the presenters, they were all top notch with much appreciation given for the First Nations presenters and their stories, Brian Bainbridge’s Wait & See case study and Tein McDonald, Craig McGraths and Lincoln Kern’s elucidation of the Standards and their on-ground implementation and the COVRAM monitoring app.

The speaker’s presentation will be rolling out on regenTV each Monday for the next nine weeks. If you want to catch all of them subscribe to the AABR’s YouTube channel.

Forum Outcomes & AABR Vic

The AABR Vic organising committee learnt a lot from delivering the Forum and talking with the attendees during and afterwards. There was a genuine interest for the Forum to be an annual event, and for more deep-dive social events and well as practical examples of resilience based restoration and implementation of The Standards.

So AABR Vic would like to be organising

Friday’s in the Field – last Friday of the month where a practical Walk, Talk & Gawk (WTG) will be followed by a social discussion at a socially orientated venue. Yarra Willem is the first destination on 24^th
A half-day workshop to allow for an expansion and discussion around Craig McGrath’s talk on implementation of the Standards with a field trip at Hall Reserve to show the practical implementation and a social
Online Lunch & Learn webinars co-hosted with ECA Vic.
A weekend event of camping, connecting and cogitating regeneration
A 1-day Standards showcase workshop covering
1. Each of the principle
2. Using the recovery wheel
3. Adapting/using the standards
4. The Standards Checklist
Another forum

These activities are all dependent upon having an enthusiastic working group to progress the ideas and share the load.

If you’re interested in lending a hand the Vic Events Working Group meet 7:30am 3^rd Wednesday of the month.

Email vicbranch@aabr.org.au if you liked to help grow AABR Vic.

Walk, Talk & Gawk

A great way to meet AABR members and share your thoughts and approaches to bushland management. If you have an idea and an interest in hosting a Walk, Talk & Gawk (WTG) get in touch with Sharon Mason, the WTG coordinator for AABR Vic, vicbranch@aabr.org.au

11 May, 9-11am Michael Smith- Observing flora and fauna interactions for bushland management