Eve Lamb
Eve Lamb
A love of the land and of landcare has seen former Castlemaine Secondary College student Tess Grieves named among the finalists for this year’s national Steadfast Young Landcare Leadership Award.
Helping to organise the annual Chicks in the Sticks rural women’s event, which she co-founded 10 years ago, is just one of the highlights of a job she loves with a passion that comes through when you chat to Tess.
It’s that passion for what she does that has now seen the longtime local announced as the Victoria finalist for this year’s Steadfast Young Landcare Leadership Award.
The annual landcare gong acknowledges an individual or a youth group between the ages of 15 – 35 years who promote excellence in landcare through on-ground projects or awareness-raising activities.
Tess, who grew up in Elphinstone, was shortlisted thanks to her incredible efforts as a young landcare leader with an unflagging passion for supporting volunteers and engaging new audiences in conservation and caring for the land.
This particularly included engaging rural women through the annual Chicks in the Sticks rural women’s events celebrating the achievements of rural women in agriculture and the environment.
“This year will be the 10th year that we’ve hosted it,” says Tess who is the regional landcare coordinator with the North Central Catchment Management Authority based in Bendigo.
“They’re so much fun,” Tess says of the annual Chicks in the Sticks events.
She also says preparations are well under way for this year’s running of the event that’s been set for Saturday October 8.
“This year’s event will be held at Camp David Farm at Spring Hill between Tylden and Kyneton,” Tess says.
Tess’s work regularly brings her to Castlemaine and towns throughout Mount Alexander Shire, like Newstead and Maldon, to catch up with the legion of local landcare volunteers.
“It’s pretty much the best,” is the way she describes her job.
The Steadfast Young Landcare Leadership Award will be presented at the National Landcare Conference held in Sydney next month, and Tess says she will be there.
She says she was “shocked” to discover she was in the running to win it.
“I was immediately shocked about that, but also really humbled,” she said.
“I get to make a career out of being involved in landcare. It’s a dream role.”
