Who are LCWL?

LCWL is the abbreviation for the Lachlan Central West Landcare. This Committee is made up of voluntary representatives from Landcare and community networks in the Lachlan and Central West Catchments.

This committee acts as an umbrella organisation for local Landcare and Community natural resource management committees in the two catchments.

The Evolution of LCWL...

First came individual Landcare Groups dotted across both catchments forming to tackle a wide range of Natural Resource Management issues.

As the numbers of groups grew Landcare networks developed. These were groups of groups forming into management committees to oversee the advancement of Landcare and often Landcare support projects for their network area.

Some areas even nominated an executive or steering committee from these Management Committees to further fine tune Landcare and support for their networks.

Overtime these committees have become increasingly important to the ongoing vigour of the Landcare movement within each network area.

It soon became evident that as Landcare ideals are about information sharing and developing partnerships it would be logical to get these committees together to discuss common issues.

This led to Joint Steering Committee meetings where each network committee was invited to send a delegate along.
These meetings were a popular way to find out about happenings in other Landcare areas share information and hear from guest speakers.

Whilst the Joint Steering Committee Meetings were reasonably popular there was still not a majority of networks participating and membership fluctuated with different representatives attending each meeting.

It was recognised by this Committee that change was required to have input and involvement in the future of investment and management of Natural Resources.

Hence the formation of the Lachlan Macquarie Landcare Advisory Committee (LMLAC). The LMLAC drew on the strengths of the Joint Steering Committee meetings but also looked to improve on them.

The major changes that the new LMLAC adopted were:
Consistent representatives attending
Agendas strongly developed via Committee
Central locations for meetings to encourage maximum attendance
Meetings that delivered outcomes and actions
Opportunity to develop partnerships with DLWC, NSW Ag and Local Govt.

In 2002 the Committee reviewed its terms of reference and protocols and also its name.

It was decided to change the name to the Lachlan Macquarie Landcare Executive Committee (LMLEC) as this reflected more accurately the committee's purpose.

In 2004 the committee decided that to better reflect the area covered by the group and with changes in Natural Resource Management the name Lachlan Central West Landcare was chosen to better represent the group.


Charter of LCWL

• Promote and support Landcare (NRM) activities in the Lachlan, Castlereagh, Macquarie and Bogan Catchments.
• Provide a reference group for CMA's at a Catchment level.
• Review strategies and frameworks for regional Landcare (NRM) support.
• Develop and broker relationships with relevant community, government and industry bodies.
• Prioritise, seek and support strategic investment.
• Identify needs and assist with skill development of Landcare and the broader community.
• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of Landcare at a regional level.