Richmond Landcare Inc. held a Science in the Pub event at The Channon Tavern on Thursday 27th March, with over one hundred people filling the venue, despite the dreary weather.

This event was the first opportunity for the broader community to hear about Richmond Landcare’s Nature Based Solutions Project: Building Flood Resilience in the Lismore Catchment.

Louissa Rogers, Project Manager, spoke about what Nature-based solutions are, why they’re an important tool for reducing the risks of natural disasters on communities and provided an overview on what this ground-breaking project is aiming to achieve. If you’d like to know more about the project please visit our website richmondlandcare.org/nature-based-solutions.

We also heard from Mark Dunphy, owner of Firewheel Rainforest Nursery, and President of the Big Scrub Rainforest Conservancy. Mark gave an entertaining presentation as to why maintenance matters – many a person will feel good about planting trees, but if they aren’t cared for, they won’t thrive. It’s time for maintenance of plantings to be as appealing as a tree planting day!

Finally, Brendan Cox, of River Ecology Australia, and the backbone of the Richmond River Ecological Health Scorecard, gave an overview of ways to measure water quality, how water-bugs are an excellent indicator of waterway health, and how improving the health of our creek banks will improve water quality – beneficial for everything downstream.

The event was a call to action for the broader community to get behind this project. We will hold community planting and maintenance days, as well as citizen science events. Please sign up for our newsletter [here].

This article appeared in Dunoon and District Gazette, June-July 2025.