I am honoured to have the opportunity to serve the Australian Rangeland Society as President and Director for the next two years. I’d like to sincerely thank David Phelps for his hard work and unwavering commitment to Council during the past eight years, six of which were as President and Director.
Excitement is building with the NRM in the Rangelands Conference in Longreach being held in less than 3 months. Over 100 papers have been submitted and so far over 110 people have registered to attend. Have you registered yet?
Maryam Niamir-Fuller provides an update date on progress towards designating an International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP). The exciting news is that the IYRP designation for 2026 is only one step away. A lot of momentum has built up in the past few weeks and we need the word to spread much further.
The Joint International Grassland and International Rangeland Congress is scheduled to be held in Nairobi, Kenya from the 23-29 October this year. Due to Covid uncertainly, the Congress Organising Committee have made a number of changes to their plan.
During Gresley Wakelin-King’s career as a geomorphologist she has often talked to landholders and residents about how geomorphology can be used to support sustainability and productivity. The questions she is most asked include: “I’ve seen a great rehabilitation technique, will it work at my place?”, “My landscape is doing [a thing], is that what’s supposed to happen?” and, “Why is this paddock different from the rest of the property?”. For all these, the answer includes geomorphology.
Hugh Pringle and his colleagues have been to a number of regional biodiversity conservation workshops in the Australia rangelands and have often noticed a belief that the management of the physical environment is not part of biodiversity conservation and also that biodiversity conservation is not important on grazed lands. Find out why this is not the case.
The US Congress is considering banning the import and sale of kangaroo parts, therefore stopping big brands from using kangaroo leather in their products. But will this actually lead to better kangaroo welfare?
Jim Noble, a stalwart of the CSIRO National Rangelands Program, sadly passed away last year. He was an innovative and prodigious scientific researcher and author with an underlying view that aerial management of rangeland vegetation was undeveloped and could be economical.
Trends in rangeland management come and go, but good, well-collected and analysed data are immortal. Don’t leave those data languishing in the filing cabinet or on the hard drive. Please, bring them out into the light of day (using The Rangeland Journal, of course).
The new ‘first of its kind’ Rangelands Atlas has recently been published by a coalition of prominent international environmental, conservation and agricultural organisations to catalogue the contemporary character of the world’s rangelands.
Do you have an interest in web-based information management and the sustainable use of Australia’s rangelands? Would you like to make a meaningful contribution to the Australian Rangeland Society? Please consider taking on the job of Website Editor to manage the Society’s website.
Have you considered publishing an article in The Rangeland Journal but would like it to be freely accessible by all readers and not just subscribers? Now you can publish your paper as Open Access on payment of the fee through the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC). Also, remember to claim your ARS member discount!
Did you know you can obtain a 20% discount on print books published under the CSIRO Publishing or Landlinks Press imprints as a benefit of your ARS membership. Find out how to obtain your exclusive discount code.
Applications are now open for this year’s Nuffield Scholarships. Check here for how to apply and when applications are due.
What’s new in the world of rangelands-related webinars and podcasts?
In this digital age there seems to be an ever-increasing number of outlets to get news and information about what is happening in the rangelands. Here are some interesting articles you may have missed in recent months.
The Society’s AGM was held via Zoom in late May. Major highlights of the meeting included the election of a new President and a new Councillor and the presentation of the 2020 Financial Report.
The Society operates on a calendar year, and the audited accounts for 2020 were accepted at the recent AGM. As shown in the Profit and Loss Table below, in 2020, the Society made a small loss of $845. As 2020 was a ‘non-conference year’, this is a satisfactory result.
Have you renewed your ARS for 2021? We need to have a strong membership so that we can support our normal activities, our publications and our Biennial Conferences.
I am currently on the look-out for articles for the November issue of the newsletter. So if you have been doing some great research, been to an stimulating conference or meeting (either in person or virtually) or just noticed something interesting happening in our vast rangelands please consider contributing. People will be interested!