Reflecting on 2025: Growth, Partnerships, and Purpose

As we close out 2025, I want to take a moment to reflect on what has been an extraordinary year for NACC NRM. Our journey this year has been defined by evolution, both within our organisation and across the broader natural resource management sector.
Home 🞂 Newsroom 🞂 Reflecting on 2025: Growth, Partnerships, and Purpose

The NRM industry continues to transform rapidly. New funding mechanisms, such as the Nature Repair Market, and growing private investment driven by ESG priorities have reshaped the way we work. These changes bring complexity, but they also provide opportunities for innovative partnerships and greater impact. NACC NRM has embraced this shift, strengthening our systems and thinking strategically about how we can deliver more in line with our purpose.

From our humble beginnings, funded by a single program and focused on the development of a regional NRM Strategy, we’ve grown into a dynamic organisation that blends not-for-profit values with a business mindset. Today, we source funding from multiple government programs and private partnerships. This diversification allows us to maximise on-ground restoration and protection efforts aligned with NARvis, our regional strategy. It also improves our resilience during periods of financial uncertainty.

Our partnerships have enabled incredible achievements this year. Highlights include cultural burning capacity-building with Badimia Bandi Barna Aboriginal Corporation, stabilising soils for fire and flood resilience with NRM Regions Australia and the Minderoo Foundation, and expanding biodiversity programs to protect Carnaby’s cockatoos as well as threatened flora species. We’ve also launched major initiatives like the Wheatbelt Woodlands recovery project and embraced cutting-edge technology through Unmanned Aerial Vehicle surveys of saltmarsh communities in collaboration with Bush Heritage Australia.

This year, new projects have taken off, and existing projects have excelled and evolved. Our new Sustainable Agriculture projects, Future Farm Foundations and Stabilising Soils, are building on the strong relationships we’ve formed with landholders across the region, turning local ideas and challenges into real on-ground action.

The Stabilising Soils project is especially exciting, as it marks a major step toward looking after our landscapes at a whole catchment scale. Our work here in the NAR will feed into a national effort, with trials and large-scale restoration helping show the true value of nature-based solutions and encouraging more investment in healthy, resilient landscapes.

Through all this evolution, our purpose remains steadfast: to ensure the community of the Northern Agricultural Region values and actively protects our natural capital. We achieve this by catalysing community conservation through passionate project delivery and education. The impact? Healthier landscapes, stronger partnerships, and a region better equipped to meet environmental challenges.

As we look ahead to 2026, we remain committed to innovation, collaboration, and delivering tangible outcomes for our environment and community. Thank you to our members, partners, and team for your unwavering support.

We wish all of our supporters a safe and joyous festive season.

Take a break in nature.

Katherine Allen – CEO

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In 2020-21 I talked about ‘raising the bar’. In 2021-22 we worked on setting the bar on fire. Over the last 12 months, the team at NACC NRM has not stopped.

The Sustainable Agriculture team has extended the program’s reach through collaborations with grower groups in the regions. Specifically, the Beyond Reasonable Drought project and Grower Group Alliance – South West WA Drought Innovation Hub – Geraldton Node project. The Beyond Reasonable Drought partnership with grower groups supported farmers across the region to improve the environmental sustainability of their agricultural production and drought resilience. The outcomes of this project have been consolidated through our successful Expression of Interest to the South West WA Drought Innovation Hub, with support from grower groups across the region, to host the Geraldton Node of the Hub. The program continues to focus on working with agricultural networks to share technical expertise and provide opportunities that will improve land management practices in agriculture across the region.

The conservation outcomes of ranger teams have expanded through work on several land tenures. Maintaining Heritage sites such as Willi Gulli, Racecourse Paddock and Buller River has long been a priority. During 2021-22, the teams have increasingly focused on threatened species and ecosystems.

To this end, Western Mulga rangers have improved management across 19,000 ha for the conservation of Malleefowl through firebreak and access management. They completed the maintenance of water holes and supported the monitoring of over 90 Malleefowl mounds.

Similarly, the Kwelena Mambakort Aboriginal Corporate ranger team have contributed positively to Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo populations by installing artificial hollows and habitat restoration.

All ranger teams have collected native seed, propagated native plants for restoration, and planted native vegetation in key locations across the NAR. Seed collection provides valuable industry experience and has facilitated the planting of over 100,000 seedlings during the year.   

In September 2021, the NACC NRM team delivered the WA Threatened Species Forum, held in tandem with the National Malleefowl Forum. Given the impact of COVID and the timing of this event, having more than 100 delegates from all over Australia was a significant achievement. The two Forums brought together 12 events over five days and featured 14 local artists, 25 businesses and 36 youth participants.

Following the successful relaunch of our updated NARvis, NACC NRM was invited to help lead a significant piece of strategic planning work for the region with Mid West Development Commission and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. With funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, the consortia delivered a Regional Drought Resilience Plan covering the shires of Northampton and Chapman Valley and the City of Greater Geraldton, along with significant technical analysis of drought vulnerability for the South West land division. The development of this plan also included extensive community consultation to ensure that local knowledge and technical advice guided the development of priorities for action.

This planning work links to existing NACC NRM on-ground projects, including Beyond Reasonable Drought and the Chapman Catchment Collaborative regeneration project.

It was a busy year for events with face-to-face events becoming commonplace again. During 2021-22 we hosted events in Gingin, Moora, Dalwallinu, Cervantes, Jurien Bay, Walkaway, Nabawa, Perenjori, Kalannie and Morawa. We supported events in Karakin, Thundellara, Perenjori, Paynes Find, Wubin, Cataby, Warradarge, Northampton, Yuna, Dalwallinu and Dandaragan.

We also supported on-ground works throughout the region, including at the following locations Yuna, Dalwallinu, Dandaragan, Merkanooka, Goodlands, Kalannie, Bunjil, Yardarino, Canna, Kondut, Latham, Kadathinni, Nabawa, Red Gully, Sandy Gully, Waddy Forrest, Devils Creek, Perenjori, Bowgada, Ellendale, Wandana, Namban, Hill River, Warradarge, Gillingarra, Regans Ford and Moonyanooka.

Our region is vast – slightly larger than Tasmania, which for comparison, is serviced by three separate NRM organisations. Covering the NAR region and its many environmental threats is challenging. We continue to focus on partnerships and collaboration to address this challenge. We know that by working with our community through passionate delivery of collaborative on-ground projects and education, the community will value and actively protect our region’s natural capital.

This year we have launched a new Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). The RAP Working Group consulted widely and developed an Innovate RAP which Reconciliation Australia approved in March 2022. The activities to fulfil these commitments are now in full swing.

Sadly, at the end of 2021, we farewelled former NACC NRM CEO Shelley Spriggs, who lost a long battle with cancer. Shelley was an inaugural inductee to the NRM Leadership Honour Roll. I will always be grateful for her guidance and no-nonsense approach, not to mention her passion for life.

While we have said farewell to some, we have welcomed many new faces across all programs, including our Administration team. We have also hosted a school-based trainee from Nagle Catholic College who has been working towards a Certificate II in Conservation and Ecosystem Management. This trial position has been very successful, and we look forward to making this opportunity available again in 2023.

During 2022 we have taken on new projects that align with our organisational and program objectives, and we have successfully completed some great initiatives that support continued conservation and sustainability outcomes. I want to thank the whole team who continue to go above and beyond for the organisation and each other proving their ongoing commitment to our purpose and our values.