Victorian Landcare Magazine - Summer 2023-24, Issue 86
A cup of tea and a chat are a powerful tool to understand people and deliver meaningful Landcare outcomes says Bass Coast Landcare Network (BCLN) Executive General Manager and Landcare Facilitator Dave Bateman
Dave stepped into Landcare in 2007, initially as a BCLN works crew member and Project Officer for the Powlett Project. Since then, Dave has had plenty of successes to draw on, not least of which is contributing to more than three million plants going in the ground across the BCLN area. There have been successful trials of differing natural resource management techniques, the complete transformation of landscapes, the ongoing success of recruiting new Landcare champions, and multiple Victorian Landcare Awards for a network that rivals some Catchment Management Authorities in scale and breadth of activities.
But it’s the feeling of being involved in something collective that really motivates Dave, who took on the Executive General Manager role with BCLN in 2019.
“I just couldn’t imagine being in a more rewarding environment from a workplace point of view – I am part of a team of passionate people that care about what they do. Half the fun of Landcare is learning everyone’s stories and Landcare people aren’t members or clients in a way – they become friends and we are interested in each other’s lives,” Dave said.
“I’d say Lew Potter, a farmer in his 70s, would be my best mate – every week at some point I’d call in and have a cup of tea and some breakfast and after a good chat and laugh I’m ready to go. There would be 15 or 20 friends I have made from Landcare where I could drop in like that.”
According to Lew, his mate Dave is much more than the jovial character you may see on first meeting.
“His job as a manager is to deal with different types of people and when we are talking farmers you are talking a wide mix, and he does it very well,” Lew said.
“There is an old guard, some of whom are moving on, or have children not taking up the cudgel, and then you have the newcomers from the tree changers to multinationals and regardless of who they are Dave is the first one in front of them.
“Dave works out pretty quickly who is open to new ideas and those that won’t hear anything new – he isn’t fazed by confrontation,” Lew said.
When Dave joined BCLN it had a small team of around seven or eight staff. Fifteen years later there’s a works crew, nursery, pest animal team, project officers, education officers and more – around 30 are generally working at any one time.
When Dave joined BCLN it had a small team of around seven or eight staff. Fifteen years later there’s a works crew, nursery, pest animal team, project officers, education officers and more – around 30 are generally working at any one time.
Dave, a father of three and keen surfer, believes it’s being willing to step out of the comfort zone and be open to opportunities that has contributed to BCLN’s growth.
“Building relationships with our council and two CMAs (West Gippsland CMA and Melbourne Water) has been huge and we’ve tried to be proactive and be a conduit with farmers and newcomers to the area – a way to link people to an arborist or a Landcare group and sit down and discuss a farm plan.
“A supportive board and a motivation to look for opportunities gives the network the flexibility to consolidate itself with partnerships and not have to rely so much on funding. That’s what works with our model.
“We’ve done some great things as a team – we had 200 year nine kids planting 20,000 trees on the steepest hill in the area at Karl Russo’s place – now five years on I’m seeing that landscape turning into a habitat link,” Dave said.
Above: The BCLN team on their annual team building trip at Walkerville.
In recent years BCLN has introduced a traineeship pathway. Luke Phillips, now a Project Officer with seven years behind him at the network, was one of the early beneficiaries of the program. Luke took a risk of his own when he first met Dave on a summer’s evening after work.
“I was about to go for a surf and I saw a Bass Coast Landcare Network sticker on a car in the car park. I was studying natural resource management online and not really getting much out of it. I did some research in the car as to who it might be and saw Dave in the water and worked out who he was.” A chat conducted on surfboards across the waves led to Luke’s entry into a bush crew role at BCLN.
“I ummed and ahed for an hour before I paddled out, caught Dave and asked for some advice before his last wave in – he said come down to the Bass Office and that’s how I started here,” Luke said.
“It was a true chance encounter and has changed my life – I moved from Melbourne to take up the role and so it was pivotal for me. Now I’m working as a Project Officer which is a great learning process. I have this wide natural resource management skill base from lots of weed and plant identification which just wouldn’t have happened without getting a job with the network.”
Anderson Inlet Landcare Group member Daryl Hook said Dave’s knowledge and curiosity had contributed to him changing his farm practice. Daryl introduced shelter belts after a BCLN trial of new direct seeding techniques. The techniques and shelterbelts are now common across the Bass Coast.
“My dad wouldn’t have had trees as part of his planning, now 20 per cent of my land is trees and I want to donate paddocks of trees, so my grandchildren have air to breathe. As a kid I saw bare hills through this area – now it’s all trees – it’s a miracle and it’s the BCLN that’s made it happen,” Daryl said.
Above: Dave Bateman (at right) talking revegetation with Bill Cleeland on his farm at Phillip Island.
For his part Dave credits the Victorian Landcare Facilitator Program as being a coup for Landcare, helping groups transform ideas into action. He’s excited to see new groups like Intrepid Landcare and the Gippsland Threatened Species Group that are now coming on the scene.
Dave is only too happy to sit down and share what has worked for BCLN.
“To me Landcare is such an easy sell, you meet some excellent people and when you go for a drive and see the changes to the landscape you feel pretty satisfied.”
Barry Kennedy is Regional Landcare Coordinator at Melbourne Water.
For more information on Bass Coast Landcare Network go to www.basscoastlandcarenetwork.org.au