The Central Victorian Biolinks project convened a workshop to allow people who are involved in landscape restoration to share their experiences on what has worked or not been so successful in setting up their projects. Some 30 participants heard presentations from people working on projects in the region (Connecting Country, Project Platypus, Wedderburn CMN, Northern Victorian Biolinks Group and Strathbogie Ranges CMN) and elsewhere in Australia (Habitat 141 and NSW Grassy Box Gum Woodlands Communities in Landscape project).

The day provided a great opportunity for people to see what other groups were doing and to talk through shared issues. Through the day the room was abuzz with lively conversation. The ‘take-home Lessons’ are providing valuable information for the Central Victorian Biolinks Advisory Group in working out how best to develop and shape the CVB project so that it may provide ‘regional context’ for the multitude of excellent local groups.

Karen Alexander has written a summary of the key take home lessons from the workshop and Lessons Learned Workshop Key Lessons and you can read more about it on the VNPA website.

The Central Victorian Biolinks project is holding a workshop to bring together practitioners of landscape-scale conservation projects to share their experiences on what has worked or not been so successful in setting up projects in their regions.

We are calling it the “Lesson’s Learnt Workshop” and are keen to hear from anyone involved in anyway (from a very part time to very full time way) in landscape conservation projects that especially address issues of connectivity and reconstruction at larger ecological scales. Whether your project is at early stages, or has been developing for a while, we would like to hear what you did, what you learnt and what you would do differently. As each project seems to have a life of its own we believe there are many useful lessons ‘out there’.

We would also hope that the workshop is of value to you too.  We envisage a ‘community of practice’ could be set up to keep exchanging the lessons learnt.

The Lessons Learned Workshop will be held in Bendigo on January 24, 2012.  If you would like to know more please contact Sophie Bickford at  sophie@centralvicbiolinks.org.au

Sophie Bickford has been recently appointed as a Project Officer to further scope the Central Victorian Biolinks project.

Sophie has a background in vegetation ecology, biodiversity science and in market mechanisms for ecosystem service and biodiversity conservation having worked in research at CSIRO and Monash University and in the private sector with Carbon Planet.

With the Advisory Group she aims to further the project’s Vision and Strategy through;

• undertaking ongoing stakeholder identification, consultation and analyses,
• learning about what has worked and not worked in the setting up and doing of other large-scale connectivity projects in Australia and overseas and
• gathering supporting scientific knowledge.

She will be based at the Hub in Castlemaine 2.5 days a week for the next 5 months and  can be contacted on sophie@centralvicbiolinks.org.au.