The committee members:

  • Chairperson: Stephen Anderson
  • Treasurer: Pauline Williams
  • Secretary: Doreen von Linde
  • General member: Susie Gordon
  • General member: Matt Sackey

Committee meetings are held every two months from January to October in accordance with our Constitution and the URTLG Inc. Committee Meetings Policy.

Our Annual General Meeting is typically held in November.

Our committee is made up of members with different backgrounds and skills to offer.

Stephen Anderson – Chairman

“Would you like to help us (the Landcare group) collect native seeds?”

“Umm… sure, ”

I never looked back.

I hadn’t considered working in ‘Landcare’ after school but it quickly became obvious that this opportunity was a natural progression from the gardening, landscaping, tree planting and farming which I always enjoyed…. but it was more. A strong focus on people, the custodians of our ‘country’, makes ‘landcaring’ special and the projects make a positive improvement to our world.

I count myself lucky to have found a niche that has allowed me to work and volunteer in our community, planting, weeding, educating, instructing, nurturing and assisting custodians and volunteers, students and interested friends and neighbours!

I see a continuing role for the URTLG in fostering a closer and better relationship between people and the land.

Pauline Williams – Treasurer

Pauline cares deeply about the health and future of the land. On her property, her and her family have committed themselves to restoring and protecting the natural environment — especially the native grasses and the scrubland at the back of their block. It’s a space that means a lot to them, not just for its beauty but for the biodiversity it supports.

In the past years, she has been actively planting native grasses, watching them take hold and thrive. She takes pride in protecting what’s already there — nurturing the natural scrub and making sure it has room to grow.

It’s hands-on and constant work removing exotics. Invasive species like Salvation Jane, briar bush, gorse and cape tulip are tackled constantly. It’s all part of their ongoing effort to give native species the best chance to regenerate and reclaim their place in the landscape.

Sustainability to Pauline and her family means working with the land, not against it — respecting its rhythms, protecting its native species and doing the work that assists it to keep healthy for the long term.

Doreen von Linde – Secretary

In 2009, my husband and I came to Australia, and we travelled for about 1.5 years, falling in love with the flora and fauna along the way. I am an Industrial Mechanic by trade, but who can blame me for changing career and studying a Diploma of Conservation and Land Management while working on a flower farm in the Adelaide Hills.

My husband and I started our own business, specialising in native gardens and garden maintenance, before our son was born in 2017. In 2020, I started working at the Barossa Bushgardens, which I absolutely love. I get to connect with various environmental groups and educate the community, especially schoolchildren, about nature and sustainability. I love hiking and exploring our local areas, testing my plant knowledge and finding weeds!   

Matt Sackey – General committee member

I joined the URTLG after moving to the Birdwood area around 5 years ago. I live on a small acreage with some wonderful native habitat areas but also some significant weed problems, and working on both of these has led to a deep interest in Landcare, native flora and fauna, and habitat restoration. I believe we can make a difference to our local environment; individual Landcarers looking after their own little patch can collectively bring about landscape-wide change. 

“The environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.”

— Lady Bird Johnson

Susie Gordon – General committee member

As a landholder and farmer, I feel it is my duty to support biodiversity by both protecting any remnant vegetation as well as planting a proportion of our property with species that existed before clearing. 

I am keen to pursue the balance, coexistence and commensalism between biodiverse indigenous and modern introduced species in a farming enterprise.

Landcare has helped me with this goal by assisting with the grant application for funding the planting and the protection of over 500 indigenous species of flora, complementing my efforts to date. 

As well as growing native grass seeds on our own property, I am an active collector of a diverse range of native seeds from remnant vegetation for the Kersbrook Landcare Group. This is done in the hope that more of our beautiful country can be rehabilitated to support biodiversity and to save species (both flora and fauna) from extinction, and as a byproduct, connect people with nature. 

If you would like to join our committee team – to learn more skills, to give back to the environment, support projects in your catchment, or to offer your skill set, please get in contact with us.