Uralla Shire Council and Southern New England Land-care are inviting members of the public to attend a family fun day at Racecourse Lagoon this Saturday, February 9. The event will celebrate World Wetlands Day, which promotes public awareness of the significance of the earth’s wetland environments and is celebrated around the world in early February each year.
The event will begin at 7.00am with a bird spotting and flora observation walk, with experts on hand to share their knowledge. Information will also be available to landholders on pest animal control and opportunities to access natural resource management funding. A BBQ Breakfast (subject to fire danger rating) will be provided at 8.30am, with other family fun activities to follow, including egg and spoon and sack races.
Southern New England Landcare Project Officer Des Andersen said the family fun day would be a great opportunity to socialise and learn something new about this important wetland.
“Our upland wetland com-munities are very diverse environments. Racecourse Lagoon is an important wetland, both environmentally and culturally. It is an area of significance for the Anaiwan Indigenous people based around Uralla and it was also a very popular recreation area, with horse races occurring until the 1970s. It is home to frogs, reptiles, fish, mammals and a variety of birds, including migratory species such as the Japanese Snipe,” he said.
The theme for this year’s World Wetlands Day is ‘Wetlands and Water Manage-ment’. In our local area this is of particular relevance to the management of our unique Upland Wetland environments. Upland Wetlands are listed as an Endangered Ecological Community (EEC) of national significance. They are formed by shallow depressions that may contain water permanently or dry out when water sources such as rainfall or groundwater become scarce. Upland Wetland Environments occur mainly on the basalt plateaux of the New England Tableland, often on private properties. These environments provide critical habitat for endemic (or local) flora and fauna species as well as migratory birds. As a result, the future management of these communities is crucial to their survival.
For more information on the event, contact Southern New England Landcare on 02 6772 9123. This event is funded by Uralla Shire Council and the Australian Government’s Caring for Our Country program.
