MEETING OPENED by Andrew Marshall at 7.30 pm.

1. Welcome:

   A welcome was extended to Sandra Maciejewski (City of Albany), Bart Downe (Dept of E) Bart is standing in for Julie Pech; and John Moore (Dept of Ag).

2. Attendance:

   Present:

   Andrew Marshall (President), John Kratochvill, Louise Duxbury (Green Skills), Ronald Master (Dept of Ag), Maurice McCormick (Vice-President), Des Wolfe, Sandra Maciejewski (City of Albany), John Blaney-Murphy, Tony Robinson, Bart Downe (Dept of Ag), Monty Walker, Terri Harwood, Peter Collins (CALM), Dale Holley (Secretary), John Moore (Dept of Ag)

   Apologies:

   Phillip Marshall, Phil Mellon, Chris Westcott, Graeme Heighton

3. Blackberry Management Plan:

   John Moore (Dept of Ag) addressed the meeting first as he needed to leave early. John discussed further, the Blackberry Management Plan. There is a new batch of rust that has come out (essentially the same species as the present one, but more virile). The CSIRO is at present monitoring the new strain. The first release occurred at Manjimup about one month ago and there will be more releases in spring. The rust is very specific, it only attacks the most common variety of blackberry.

   The Department of Agriculture asks that if any land care groups discover blackberry, that they contact the Department so the blackberries can be identified and added to the "Management Chart".

   The bigger issue John said is "why the blackberry invades as it does". Part of the plan is to look at the whole ecological process. John spoke at length about the departments that are involved with the plan and answered questions from those in attendance

4. Minutes of Previous Meeting:

   The minutes of the previous meeting (held on 28th April, 2004) were accepted as a correct record by Maurice McCormick and seconded by Andrew Marshall

5. Matters arising from previous Minutes:
   1. 5.1 - Planning Officer: Jude Allen from (CALM) will address the next meeting on 21st July, 2004

   2. 5.2 - Regarding the request of a map showing ownership of properties on drains/waterways. CALM has a cogs map showing property boundaries and reserves. The City of Albany, Department of Ag and Fire Brigade all have similar maps showing ownership.

6. Correspondence:

   (outwards)

   1. 9th May, 2004 to Laurina Pickin, Main Roads WA expressing concern regarding the T-junction at corner of Marbellup South Road and South Coast Highway
   2. 9th May, 2004 to John Grant, Department of Ag, thanking John for his involvement with the Watershed Torbay Soil and Fertiliser Workshop held in January
   3. 5th May, 2004 similar letter to Dave Weaver, re Soil and Fertiliser Workshop
   4. 3rd May, 2004 to Mr P Shephard, Albany Town Planner for the City of Albany in support for the inclusion of the Watershed Torbay Restoration Plan of Objectives and Priorities to be included in the Albany Town Planning Scheme

   (inwards)
   

   1. 4th May, 2004 Letter from Water Corporation acknowledging receipt of our letter of concern regarding the condition of the drains in the Torbay catchment. They are considering funding options at present and will advise the outcome of their investigations as soon as possible
   2. 17th May, 2004 Letter from Judy Edwards (Minister for the Environment) acknowledging our letter regarding the condition of the drains. The Minister confirmed that the Dept of Environment intends to apply for a comprehensive National Action Plan project to implement the plan (Watershed Torbay Restoration Plan) and that this application will incorporate a bid for funding to restore the catchment and drains. Further, the Department is currently producing the investment plan to complement the restoration plan
   3. E-mail 31st May, 2004 from Lorraine Cormack inviting the Torbay Catchment Group to submit an application for the Australian Government's Volunteer Small Equipment Grants (round 2).

7. Matters arising from correspondence:

   Letter to be sent to the City of Albany enclosing a copy of the letter to Main Roads regarding the T-junction. Dale Holley to attend

8. Treasurer's Report:

   Attached

9. General Business:

   9.1 Nutrient Balance Study: Ron Master (Department of Ag). Ron will be working part-time with the Centre of Excellence and Dave Weaver (Dept of Ag) to look at nutrients (particularly phosphorus). The idea is to try and model input and output ratios of P, to work out what comes in and what goes out in the major land uses within the Torbay Catchment area. This information will then be put into a model looking primarily at perennials to try and quantify what impact perennial pasture has on phosphorus exports.

   9.2 July Watershed Torbay Newsletter: It's time for more articles for the July edition. A plea for articles to be personally written and not just information handed on to be compiled by the editor!!! It's much nicer in "your" words.

   9.3 Weed Strategy Update: (Sandra Maciejewski, Bush-Carers Co-ordinator from the City of Albany). Sandra spoke on the City of Albany Weed Strategy. Work that has been done and is planned to be carried out, particularly affecting the Torbay Catchment. As well as identifying the main weeds to be targeted, there was discussion as to how the Torbay Catchment Group could continue to work together with the City of Albany on Weed Strategy and the sharing of equipment for our area.

   9.4 Community Indicators Update: Louise Duxbury is compiling a draft of the Health Indicators of the catchment. Louise expressed how difficult it was to summarise data as "Stats are not very accurate. We don't want to give the community the wrong impression and raise expectations". The draft will be presented in two forms, a brief statement about characteristics of importance and status of indicators which will be included in the next newsletter and a more detailed report.

   9.5 Waterways Restoration Envirofund Update: Bart Downe (DoE). As yet the $30,000 approx mistakenly deposited in the account of Dept of E has not yet been credited to the Torbay Catchment Group's account. Bart will look into this and report back to the Meeting.

   • Green Corp team have fenced and revegetated creek line at Robert Hortin's property.
   • 11 Km of fencing has been allocated, 5,600 seedlings and 7 crossing points.
   • Out of a budget of $26,000 there is still $14,500 to be allocated

   9.6 Feedback on Watershed Torbay Communication Log: Louise Duxbury has gone through all the Watershed Torbay Meetings, the Torbay Catchment Group's Meetings and Drainage Committee Meetings and any other meetings held and summarised all the activities and what was learnt from them eg: the positives and negatives. If anyone would like to review the summary and make comment, you can contact Louise at Green Skills.

10. Other Business:

    10.1 The Bird Hide Application has been written up (funding for bridge overpass and illustration board).

    10.2 Ron Master mentioned the project of perennial pasture being carried out at the Denmark Agricultural School.

    10.3 Concern was raised about the type of advertising Land Agents are using to sell rural properties with access to streams. A recent advertisement stated plentiful water supply for aquaculture and horticulture. A discussion took place as to the legality of this.

    10.4 John Blaney-Murphy produced some photographs of the plug. It was felt there didn't appear to be much change in comparison to the photographs taken fifteen years ago.

    10.5 Ron Master reported that the Department of Ag has engaged a journalist to work on a series of articles to appear in the Albany Advertiser on work being carried out in the Kalgan Catchment.

The Torbay Catchment Group's next meeting will be held on - Wednesday 21st July 2004.