A visit to the Northern Agricultural Region

Last month Melanie Strang and Geoff Park spent the week with the Northern Agricultural Catchment Council (NACC) helping with the development of their new NRM plan. In collaboration with NACC staff, led by Marieke Jansen and CEO Shelley Spriggs we conducted four workshops to identify and filter assets across the Northern Agricultural Region (NAR). The workshops were held with community members and government stakeholders in Geraldton, Perenjori, Moora and Jurien Bay and over 60 people participated. It was a great week – more than 200 assets were identified and prioritised, aided by an incredible depth of local knowledge and a real passion for this magnificent regional landscape.

The asset filtering session at our first workshop in Geraldton.

Participants at the Moora workshop absorbed in identifying significant local assets.

A non-work highlight of the week included staying in the wonderful Eco-house at Perenjori. Designed by students from the University of Western Australia and constructed by the Shire of Perenjori, this ‘flat-pack’ construction was not only a marvel of green technologies but very comfortable!

The Perenjori Eco-house

The NAR has some beautiful and diverse ecosystems – we finished the week with a workshop at Jurien Bay and were delighted by the antics of a flock of Crested Terns on the beach at this lovely coastal town.

Crested Terns at Jurien Bay, 15th June 2012.