News and Events

Extreme low flows are pushing refuge pools to their limits. Heat, sediment, salinity and stock impacts are degrading water quality and threatening native fish. This article outlines what’s causing it and practical steps we can take to protect our waterways.

Courtesy of the Refreshing Upper Billabong project, we have a limited number of tubestock suitable for planting both instream and along creek banks to reduce erosion and create habitat.

We lacked information on the aquatic wildlife of the Upper Billabong catchment, so using Citizen Science - the Refreshing Rivers iNaturalist project and eDNA tests, we have gathered 1,672 observations across the catchment and also completed 9 eDNA profiles in local waterways.

On Saturday the 21st of March, the inaugural Carpathon was held at The Cape in Jerilderie. The sun was shining, the grass was green from the recent rain, and 73 people registered for the event! It was a day full unlucky carp, prize winners, a delicious BBQ and many happy faces.

David Bray and Louise Freckleton are stewards of Highfield Farm and Woodland, a 335 Ha property near Adelong in the eastern Riverina. Highfield blends conservation of critically endangered Box‑gum grassy woodland with a small‑scale paddock‑to‑plate enterprise and a thriving ecotourism operation.

Join us these school holidays for a hands-on workshop where kids aged 7-15 will become citizen scientists and explore the fascinating world of tree hollows.

Join us for a Working Bee at Ian Geddes Reserve - Sunday 10th August 10 am - 12 pm

Be part of the Refreshing Rivers Program in the Upper Billabong, and join Holbrook Landcare Network for a family-friendly morning in nature as we care for the beautiful Ian Geddes Reserve along Ten Mile Creek.

Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned gardener, this workshop will teach you the techniques for propagating one of our regions rarest native plants, the Tumut Grevillea. In doing so you will be part of a program assisting with the recovery of this critically endangered plant.

Come along and hear from speakers from LLS and Ozfish as they explore this issue and provide examples of a number of low cost solutions to improve your waterway

On Saturday the 21st of March, the inaugural Carpathon was held at The Cape in Jerilderie. The sun was shining, the grass was green from the recent rain, and 73 people registered for the event! It was a day full unlucky carp, prize winners, a delicious BBQ and many happy faces.

European carp (Cyprinus carpio) uproot vegetation, degrade habitat and reduce water quality, competing with native species for food and space. Come along to help us remove some of these carp from our local waterway.

Join us to look for and photograph flora and fauna, share your findings on iNaturalist, and have your findings verified by experts.

YACTAC are on the lookout for landholders along Colombo Creek to be part of a baseline assessment. This program will focus on carp removal, and the distribution and health of trout cod and eel-tailed catfish populations in Colombo Creek.

Central Billabong landholders celebrate the incredible success of willlow removal projects over the past 15 years, which have turned clogged creeks into broad, navigable waterways, flanked by redgums and revegetation plantings, and home to native fish and birds.

In the upper reaches of the Mountain Creek, habitat restoration for the endangered Southern Pygmy Perch also has many benefits for landholders, revitalising much-loved and valuable creek systems.

A single Southern Pygmy Perch was netted in Little Billabong Creek today! The species was initially detected using eDNA sampling of the creek in February 2024, and a new population of this endangered fish species has now been fully confirmed.

Come say "Hi" to the Refreshing the Upper Billabong project officer, Peter Rowland, at the Holbrook Landcare Network's Ag-Tech Expo, being held at Little Billabong Hall on Thursday 13th February 2025

In February, we did some snapshot eDNA sampling at water quality sites across the Upper Billabong as part of Refreshing Rivers Program

We're doing some work on the Ten Mile Creek in the Ian Geddes Bush Reserve. Our Community Working Bee will be on on Sunday 11th August 2024 from 10-12pm. It will be just a low key morning of a little bit of planting on the creek bank and some bush regeneration-style weed control

David Bray and Louise Freckleton are stewards of Highfield Farm and Woodland, a 335 Ha property near Adelong in the eastern Riverina. Highfield blends conservation of critically endangered Box‑gum grassy woodland with a small‑scale paddock‑to‑plate enterprise and a thriving ecotourism operation.

Waterways such as creeks, rivers, wetlands and riparian corridors are biodiversity hotspots. Many species relying on these areas are highly vulnerable to feral cat predation.

Join the Refreshing Rivers team and Landcare under the clear, unspoilt night skies for an evening celebrating the beauty and importance of our nocturnal environment.

The Refreshing Rivers project is offering a pilot project to deliver low-cost waterway solutions for landholders on the Yaven Creek.

Through the Refreshing Rivers Program, we are looking for landholders with farm dams, gravel pits or wetlands, who are interested in establishing refuge "arks" for this rare species of fish.