Local Landscape Workshop FAQ What does ‘Local Landscape’ mean? The Wet Tropics Region for Natural Resource Management (NRM) is large and diverse – extending from the Daintree all the way to the Lower Herbert from north to south, and out beyond Mount Garnet to the West. 10 sub-regions have emerged in the process of reviewing the existing NRM Plan and the creation of a new plan. The whole of the Wet Tropics region is being referred to as the regional landscape (or Wet Tropics Landscape) and the 10 sub-regions are being referred to as Local Landscapes. These Local Landscapes are geographical areas that may overlap and are not intended to be rigid or divisive boundaries. The Local Landscapes are intended to be areas that people identify and engage with. When creating the Local Landscapes, a number of factors were taken into consideration, including: Biophysical landscape Community services Land use Industry areas Community consultation results The purpose of Local Landscapes is to enable us to have discussions and develop planning content at a more localised level than ‘whole of region’. It also provides the opportunity for community to tell us what they want to see happening in their own backyard. The website for the new plan will have sections for each of the Local Landscapes so that the plan content can be accessed from a Local Landscape perspective. The desired outcome is to ensure better integration between national, state, regional and local priorities and action. Why aren’t you having a workshop in my Town? How come we are lumped in together with other towns? 10 Local Landscapes have been mapped for the Wet Tropics Region. This is primarily to keep the Local Landscapes to a manageable number. It is recognised that a number of the Local Landscapes as we have defined them contain very diverse communities. During the upcoming workshops we plan to make sure that individual communities and localities within each of the Local Landscapes can have their say about what is important to them, and we will ensure that the new plan recognises this within the Local Landscape section. At present, we are only holding 1 workshop for each Local Landscape and we anticipate that differences within these landscapes will be captured through this process. However in the future, if it becomes clear that our current delineations are not workable, we may need to reconsider the number and locations of the Local Landscape structure of the plan. How do these workshops relate to the Community NRM grants opportunity that is coming up? One of the primary roles of the new Wet Tropics Plan is that it will inform the ways in which money is spent on NRM in the region. Unfortunately, the plan will not be complete in time for it to inform this upcoming round of grants. However, the Local Landscape workshops will, and the results of these workshops will be used to assist in assessing the grant applications. Importantly, the workshops will provide us information on what the local priorities for the community are. In future, we anticipate that the Wet Tropics Plan will inform a range of grant opportunities, including those coming from the State and Australian Governments. If I cannot make the Local Landscape workshop in my area can I go to a different one? The Local Landscape workshops are specifically tailored to a particular area so it is most beneficial to attend the workshop for your area (or any area that you associate with and care about). There are small parts of the workshop that will be very much the same for each Local Landscape, but if you do not have a strong connection with the area the workshop is designed for you may feel a bit left out in some of the discussions. Do I need to RSVP and how? It is important for us to have a reasonable sense of how many people are coming to the local landscape workshop – both for the purpose of catering but also planning. We will have people with us for a very short amount of time, and we want to make the most of that time. For that reason, we will be running a facilitated process, to make sure that everyone in the room has the chance to have their say about their local priorities. Please let us know a few days in advance if you would like to attend. You can do this by emailing [email protected] or calling 0740 957 101. Can I attend more than one Local Landscape workshop? Yes. There is no problem if you want to attend multiple workshops. Are there other opportunities if I cannot attend any Local Landscape workshops? Yes. Ongoing involvement in the plan is encouraged. If you are interested in getting involved contact Gary Searle. Will the Local Landscape workshop results be publicly available? Yes. The workshop results will be available via Terrain’s Website for people to view and provide comments or feedback until the Wet Tropics Plan is launched. They will form the basis for populating the section in the Wet Tropics Plan about that particular Local Landscape. Ongoing feedback is encouraged even after the Wet Tropics Plan is complete. It will be an adaptive plan and ongoing feedback and comments will be used to make regular updates or changes.
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