Desley Kippax

Project Profile

Issues

Huon Valley’s Desley Kippax has been nominated for a National Landcare Award for her role and achievements as the mainstay of Cygnet Junior Landcare and Port Cygnet Land and Watercare since 1997.

Project Detail

Huon Valley’s Desley Kippax’s role and achievements with the Cygnet Junior Landcare and Port Cygnet Land and Watercare Groups has seen her nominated for a 2010 National Landcare Award.

Since 1997 Desley has been a driving member of Landcare in the region and founded the Cygnet Junior Landcare Group. In 2002 this group combined with two other groups to become Port Cygnet Land and Watercare and Desley took on the roles of coordinator and treasurer.  Desley has encouraged participation and provided a level of continuity for Landcaring in the Cygnet area for twelve years.

Both the Port Cygnet Land and Watercare Group and the Cygnet Junior Landcare Group have been active in educating children and the broader community about Natural Resource Management (NRM) issues, water monitoring and on-ground works such as weed management and revegetation. With Desley behind them, the groups have achieved a great deal in the Cygnet Catchment and at Burton’s Reserve, a coastal wildlife sanctuary at Cygnet in Southern Tasmania.

In addition to an active role in the Cygnet Junior Landcare Group, Desley was a valued member of the Huon Valley Landcare Advisory Committee from 1997 to 2005 that provided advice to Huon Valley Council on Landcare and Catchment Management related issues.

Desley has been an active Waterwatcher since 1997 and coordinates the regular testing of water quality parameters at around 15 sites in the Cygnet Catchment. Her data informed the document Water Quality in the Huon Catchment. Due to the demise of the national Waterwatch Programme there has been a lack of coordination of many of Waterwatch groups in the Huon Valley, however Desley has continued the monitoring in the Cygnet catchment and has trained and assisted volunteers and delivered and calibrated equipment.

Desley is well respected in the community and has continued to engage with a wide range of residents in her role with Landcare. Her touch to people from all walks of life has been fundamental to Port Cygnet Land and Watercare Group’s ability to work with many landholders in the catchment. Through Desley’s encouragement, commitment and passion, many previously reluctant landholders have agreed to work with Port Cygnet Land and Watercare, achieving excellent on-ground works.

Desley works tirelessly and passionately because of her love of the environment and has contributed an insurmountable number of hours to Landcare in the past decade. Without Desley’s enthusiasm and organisational skills, much of the work that has been achieved by the Landcare group would not have been accomplished.

Desley Kippax is one of 88 finalists in the National Landcare Awards to be announced in Canberra on 24 June 2010.  Commencing in 1991, the Awards celebrate the achievements of individuals and groups that make a valuable contribution to the land and coast where they live and work.

Photography

Delsey Kippax