This week, we celebrated another year of achievements with around 70 members, stakeholders, and staff attending NRM South’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). It was an opportunity to reflect on the accomplishments of the past year, catch up with our members and stakeholders, and look ahead to the challenges and opportunities in natural resource management. Led by NRM South’s CEO, Nepelle Crane, and Board Chair, Bob Rutherford, the AGM highlighted NRM South’s continued efforts to address southern Tasmania’s pressing climate, biodiversity, and natural resource challenges.
In her address, Nepelle shared how the NRM South team has worked diligently to secure essential funding, complete impactful projects, and establish new ones. She also reiterated NRM South’s role and commitment to supporting Tasmanian Aboriginal, Palawa, leadership and decision making in healing Country, emphasising the importance of ensuring their voices are heard, respected, and actioned at every level of our work.
A key feature of this year’s AGM was the unveiling of three new project videos, highlighting some of our critical initiatives. These videos focused on the elusive and endangered Swan Galaxias, the critically endangered Ammonite Snail, and the innovative Farming Forecaster project, which is providing vital tools to help farmers adapt to changing conditions. Attendees were also treated to an engaging and insightful presentation on the relevance and importance of soil health by the Tasmanian Soils Coordinator, Belinda Nielsen, whose work has been instrumental in advancing opportunities linked with soils statewide – including in primary industries, conservation, carbon and climate.
We were also pleased to highlight our progress in emergency preparedness, response and recovery, a key focus as Tasmania faces increasing climate-related events like droughts, floods, fire, and marine heatwaves. Our initial planning work aims to build resilience and protect natural assets, with strong collaboration across all levels of government and stakeholders, and a need to work cooperatively to scale up actions and meet these growing challenges.
The AGM was also the perfect opportunity to celebrate individual achievements, and we were thrilled to announce the first recipient of the Scanlon Scholarship, Dr Yolanda Hanusch. Yolanda’s passion for pollination ecology and her dedication to advancing research in this field were recognised with this scholarship, which will enable her to build on her important work in southern Tasmania.
As we celebrated these accomplishments, we also marked a moment of transition for NRM South. This AGM saw the end of Deputy Chair Claire Ellis’ second term on the Board, after eight years of dedicated service. Claire’s energy and enthusiasm have been a driving force for NRM South, and as Bob Rutherford emphasised ‘every time she enters a room, she contributes something positive’. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Claire for her commitment and leadership over the years.
Thanks to everyone who attended our AGM. The opportunity to get together with member organisations, stakeholders and anyone interested in NRM in Tasmania is incredibly important to us and we look forward to ongoing collaborations that will continue to strengthen and grow this network.
We invite you to explore our 2023/24 Annual Report, which captures the breadth of our initiatives and features stories on Blue Carbon, Supporting our Soils, and Biodiverse Bruny, alongside other critical work we’ve undertaken this past year.