2012 Annual Report - Hunter Wetlands Centre Australia

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CEO’S Report - ContinuedWith the help of Dart Energy, ourmajor sponsor, we raised over $6,000to put toward our site restoration andeducation programs. Dart have alsoagreed to sponsor the event again in2013. We are hoping for in excess of150 competitors in 2013. Anna Ryan(Ecotourism Manager) and Jake Relf(Events Manager) worked tirelesslyto ensure the event ran well and wasconducted in a safe manner.A number of other fundraising eventsare also being considered for 2013.We are also revisiting the ideaof allowing camping on site inconjunction with environmental toursand may lodge a DA with Councilsometime in 2013 and a numberof other ideas will be developedfollowing the Boards Strategy Dayheld in Late January 2013.The focus on rehabilitating the sitehowever has not been lost andcontinues at great pace with the helpof various funding bodies and a largeand willing workforce of volunteers.This workforce is guided and assistedby Site manger Paul Trute, BiodiversityOfficer Matt Stow and Project OfficerWill McCaffrey.Significant projects worked on duringthe year were:A Butterfly Garden funded byPerpetual Trustees through the EstateRobin Vincent Udny Rothwell AccountWildlife Presentation Trust. This projecthas been completed and the site is fullof butterfly attracting plants, it has apicnic area, pond, bridge and windmillfor irrigation purposes and I am surewill be a favourite area along with theBushtucker Garden once the plantshave grown sufficiently.10
A 5 year project funded by the FederalGovernments Biodiversity Fund to replace upto 8 ha of weeds with a major extension ofour rainforest.The revegetation of Farm Dam and a new SiteManagement Plan funded by the HCRCMAwas commenced. The revegetation work isbeing supervised by Jenny Castles (BoardMember and Hunter Landcare NetworkMember).The Wallaby Flat revegetation processis almost complete and will certainly becompleted in 2013. The “Thursday Mob” ledby Paddy Lightfoot has transformed this areawhich was a large blackberry patch a numberof years ago into a magnificent example of asite revegetated by local native plants.Hunter Water and the NSW EnvironmentalTrust were also major funding partners in therevegetation process along with a number ofother smaller funding bodies.John Dugas, Jonathan Cordingly, Roger Pryorand Tom Bagnatt resigned from the Boardduring the year for a variety of reasons as didlong standing Director Ted Lewis who aftermany years has decided to take a well earnedrest. Thank you all for your assistance andguidance.Professor Joe Bidwell, Chair of theEnvironmental Science Department atNewcastle University, Deon Van Rensburg,Area Manager NPWS and John Stuart joinedthe Board and are all working well andmaking valuable contributions.Long serving staff members Shane Holmesand Rae Nelson departed and are bothmissed and I thank them for their service.Above all though, I would like to pay tributeto our many wonderful volunteers. Thereare too many to mention individually. Theywork in all sections of the organisation andare the glue that keeps the organisationtogether. This year a new innovation hasbeen the introduction to the volunteerranks of a number of overseas studentsfrom the University. They come from arange of nations but the majority are fromChina. They have worked in most areasof the Centre but by far the most valuablecontribution was made during the heat ofNovember, December and January whenon regular occasions along with our regularvolunteers they worked in severe heatto hand water over 8000 newly plantednatives. This new source of volunteers wastapped by Grant Morgan our volunteercoordinator who is also the StudentRepresentative on the University Senate.11
Page 1: Hunter Wetlands CentreAnnual Report
Page 4 and 5: ContentsOrganisational ProfileExecu
Page 6 and 7: Board of DirectorsTom BagnattJoe Bi
Page 8 and 9: Chairman’s Report - Ben ChardIn t
Page 12 and 13: Site Managers Report - Paul TruteWe
Page 14 and 15: Site Managers Report continued14Dec
Page 16 and 17: 2012 higher workloads also included
Page 18 and 19: Education Report - Peter JonesThis
Page 20 and 21: Education Report continuedYouth Eco
Page 22 and 23: Ecotourism & Marketing Continuedwe
Page 24 and 25: Sponsors & SupportersHunter Water h
Page 26: Financial Report 2012
Page 31 and 32: Notes31

2012 Annual Report - Hunter Wetlands Centre Australia

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