The third Jord Foundation (JET) roadshow was closer to home, just a 4 hour drive southwest of Sydney, to Scottsdale, a 1,300 hectare Bush Heritage property nestled on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River.

Our assignment this weekend was to plant a couple of hundred snow gum and acacia trees, to rehabilitate land that had been emaciated by the dreaded Lovegrass. Never has a weed been more inappropriately named. Introduced from Africa to stabilise eroding watercourse banks from land that had been overgrazed, it soon took over the entire property, at the exclusion of all else. Worse still, no animal, neither wild nor domestic, will eat it. A second task was to remove a few hundred metres of firmly entrenched rabbit proof fencing,. Much blood, sweat and tears went into this task, sated only by the prodigious consumption of food and beverages that evening.

Short but spectacular storms throughout this work did not damp our spirits, slow our work, nor quench the evenings bonfire. But those storms did excite the photography enthusiasts amongst us. Thanks to our host Phil Palmer and his delightful family, our Tour Guide Matt Taylor for his wit and patience in sheparding us around, and to our JET spiritual leader Simon Cobden for his effort in coordinating the various projects we have on with Bush Heritage at the moment