Welcome!

Sturt Upper Reaches Landcare Group Inc. have been operating since 1995. We are a group of volunteers who carry out Landcare work in the community broadly defined by the catchment of the upper reaches of the Sturt River.

Our group has three main focuses:

• to provide support for our members and members of the local community in managing properties
• to run public meetings on current topics of mutual interest using speakers who have expertise in their field
• to carry out on-site works, promoting best practice in managing vegetation for biodiversity and for water quality.

We are a contact point for the local community and a conduit for government and Natural Resource Management Boards to the public. We operate on a limited budget, focusing on working as a community group to showcase best practice in environmental management.

We aim to provide a community focus for Landcare in the local community. We promote a Landcare ethic in the community through public educational activities, practical demonstrations of best practice, support for community members wishing to improve their environmental knowledge and practices, and by providing a link to other environmental organizations.

That's not a rat, it's a Bandicoot!

That's not a rat, it's a bandicoot!

Many residents of Upper Sturt have been fortunate to see Southern Brown Bandicoots on or near their properties over the last few years. The growth of the local bandicoot population is largely due to fox baiting carried out in National Parks, as well as people recognising the damage that domestic and feral cats do to these native marsupials.

Recently Bandicoot watchers have noticed a drastic decline in sightings. This is associated with cats moving into the area as new landholders move into the hills.

Bandicoots live in bushland understorey, but have adapted to finding protection in blackberry bushes and any other protective cover they can find.

They have a varied diet, but their preferred food consists of berries, fungi bulbs, insects, spiders, worms, centipedes, etc. They leave small conical shaped diggings in their scratching for food.

You can help protect these small native marsupials by controlling your cat, or better still, by accepting that the native wildlife is more important than owning a cat. In addition, consider the habitat needs of bandicoots when working on your property.

Care should also be taken if rat or snail baits are laid. Unlike introduced species of the common house rat, bandicoots will not climb walls and infest buildings. Any rat or mouse bait needs to be placed where the ground dwelling species will not be harmed.

Further information on bandicoots can be obtained here or from the interpretative sign at the Upper Sturt Community Hall on the corner of Upper Sturt Road and Sturt Valley Road where the Sturt Upper Reaches Landcare Group has a demonstration site.

Peter Allen President Sturt Upper Reaches Landcare Group Inc. ©2002-2007

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