Pelzer Prize 2021 celebrates SA environment heroes: Watch replay video here
Meet the winner of the $10,000 Pelzer Prize for SA environment heroes and celebrate the finalists. Watch the replay of the awards ceremony here.
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Gardener and nature-lover Jill Woodlands has won the $10,000 Pelzer Prize for SA environment heroes for her many efforts to reconnect people with their planet.
As a curator of the Nature Festival and organiser of other nature-based events such as the Parklands Project, Zoodle and Amongst It, Ms Woodlands finds creative ways to bring people, plants and wildlife together for mutual benefit.
Her historical research uncovered the Forest League, a secret society of Adelaide establishment figures who came together to protect natural forests and to encourage the government to regenerate large areas.
On accepting the award at The Advertiser, Ms Woodlands said she was “completely shocked” to win. She didn’t even know she was nominated and had actually nominated someone else.
“I’m in awe because I was very excited to be celebrating the Pelzer Winner,” she said.
“I’m very proud to work in horticulture, I’m equally proud to be a member of the small but mighty crew bringing the Nature Festival to South Australia … We want people to be saying, ‘Of course we celebrate nature, we’re South Australians, we want to stand up for nature.”
The Advertiser and Sunday Mail, together with Green Adelaide, the University of Adelaide Environment Institute and the Australian Science Media Centre, launched the Pelzer Prize in June and received almost 100 nominations.
Green Adelaide chairman Professor Chris Daniels said the selection panel had a difficult task with such a strong field. The panel awarded 12 certificates of commendation in categories and felt the “ultimate winner” Ms Woodlands had “a hand or a foot” in most of the categories.
Marine biologist Michelle Blewitt, from Brighton, received a special commendation for her work in the area of pollution and sustainability.
She knows how much damage plastic can do but she has turned from “disentangling whales and dissecting turtles” to training volunteers to search for microplastic, map hotspots and track down culprits.
The Australian Microplastic Assessment Project program director said West Lakes was a problem site for microplastics, with 40,000 pieces per sq m.
However new data shows that has been blitzed by Port Adelaide wetlands’ 813,000 pieces per sq m, “the highest number anywhere in Australia”.
“I map where all of these hotspots are and then work with local councils to find where (the microplastic) is coming from and then search for effective solutions, before it enters our waterways,” she said.
“It comes down to education, but unfortunately some plastic manufacturers are unaware of the potential impact … so having scientific data to be able to then approach them is a really great tool.”
TREE AT THE HEART OF A COMMUNITY
A majestic tree that predates the state stands at the centre of a wide-reaching community effort to restore Brownhill Creek.
Retired schoolteacher Ronald Bellchambers, 66, is the driving force behind the Brownhill Creek Association.
Now in his tenth year as a full-time volunteer, he has received a special commendation for his work in The Advertiser and Sunday Mail’s $10,000 Pelzer Prize for local environment heroes.
The focus of attention in recent years has been an ancient river red gum that holds special significance for the Kaurna people, known as the Kaurna Shelter Tree.
“We cleared all the woody weeds and put in a native garden, to protect the root zone from compaction, including companion plants such as yam daisies,” Mr Bellchambers said.
“And the tree has just sprung to life, people can’t believe it, the arborists can’t believe the growth that’s on it.”
Kaurna elder, Aunty Lynette Crocker said it was “highly unusual” and “quite amazing” to see a tree “older than the state” that looked dead and burnt out start to sprout leaves again.
“I applaud the efforts that he has put in,” Ms Crocker said. “It’s not just over the weekend, he’s fair dinkum, he’s in for the long haul and I think he finds some solace in being around the trees and seeing the difference that it’s making.”
Member for Waite, Sam Duluk, nominated Mr Bellchambers for the Pelzer Prize and has previously facilitated access to funding for various revegetation projects.
He wants to pursue further restoration efforts along the Wirraparinga Trail, especially Stage 2 of the Kaurna Shelter Tree Project. This would restore the eroded creek bank at the base of the tree to allow visitors to view it without entering and damaging the tree.
Environment Minister David Speirs commended the Brownhill Creek Association’s ability to leverage extra donations and volunteer hours from government funding.
“Ron is someone I’ve known personally for years, he’s a dynamic doer, someone who puts partnerships at the heart of his work and has shown how much practical action can be achieved for our environment when everyone works together,” he said.
“He’s created an approach and model which should be followed by other environmental groups wanting to have a big impact on the natural world.”
FULL LIST OF AWARDS
Winner of the 2021 Pelzer Prize:
Jill Woodlands
Gardener and nature-lover Jill Woodlands finds creative ways to reconnect people with their planet. She is an exceptional communicator, a curator of the Nature Festival building partnerships and expanding the program, and organiser of many other nature-based events such as the Parklands Project, Zoodle and Amongst It. Her research extends into the natural history of Adelaide, such as the existence of the Forest League (a society of Adelaide’s founders). She has also been involved with organisations like the Mediterranean Garden Society and the Nature Conservation Society. She strongly believes that being attached to nature is hugely important for conservation and for our own wellbeing. Jill is also a manager at Diggers, Australia’s number one gardening club.
12 certificates of commendation in the following categories:
Local Hero:
David Mussared
For more than 25 years, David Mussared has been protecting and restoring biodiversity in the Adelaide Hills with the Aldgate Valley Landcare Group. He has planted about 50,000 seedlings and removed many, many thousands of weeds. He has driven the Valley of the Bandicoots Project and the Aldgate Valley Nature Walk development. The Valley of the Bandicoots consists of a wildlife corridor stretching about five kilometres from Aldgate to Mylor. His business helps organisations advertise for jobs in the Natural Resource Management field and provides a portion of its income to environmental causes.
Local Government:
Tim Johnson
Mitcham Council’s sustainable infrastructure engineer for natural environments, Tim Johnson, is involved in countless green engineering projects across Adelaide, such as “H2Oak – From Flood to Foliage”. He is connected to both UniSA and Flinders University and serves on the advisory board and management committee of TREENET. His research supports trees in urban settings, studying the interactions between roots, infrastructure, water and soil to deliver maximum benefit to the community and environment. He’s always looking for nature-based solutions to the challenges of urbanisation and climate change.
Regional:
Peter Lehmann
A natural propagator and grower of all things, Peter Lehmann took it upon himself to harvest seeds and raise seedlings to restore the burnt landscape of the Yorke Peninsula following his work with teams of Blaze Aid volunteers. At home he has spent many hours germinating the seeds and then potting the seedlings out. Once raised to a reasonable stage he has then transported these seedlings to the areas in need of revegetation. This has involved many trips to the area to distribute seedlings to landholders and community groups for planting out. A great South Australian who has used his knowledge and passion for Australian plants to assist the fire ravaged areas of our state.
Associations and Friends of Parks:
Ron Bellchambers, Brownhill Creek Association
Retired schoolteacher Ronald Bellchambers, 66, is the driving force behind the Brownhill Creek Association. Now in his tenth year as a full-time volunteer, Ron has developed an exceptional ability to leverage extra donations and volunteer hours from government funding for restoration and revegetation. At Brownhill Creek, the focus of attention in recent years has been an ancient river red gum that holds special significance for the Kaurna people, known as the Kaurna Shelter Tree. He has developed strong working relationships with the Kaurna people, school groups, community groups, politicians and businesses throughout the area.
Pollution and sustainable practice:
Michelle Blewitt
Marine biologist Michelle Blewitt of Brighton knows how much damage plastic can do but she has turned from “disentangling whales and dissecting turtles” to training volunteers to search for microplastic, map hot spots and track down culprits. As the Australian Microplastic Assessment Project program director, Ms Blewitt has identified the Port Adelaide wetlands as the site with the highest number of pieces of microplastic per square metre anywhere in Australia. She works with local councils to find where the microplastic is coming from and then search for effective solutions, before it enters waterways.
Schools and communities:
Deirdre Knight
Bringing butterflies back to the St Josephs School community at Hindmarsh is labour of love for Deirdre Knight of Pennington. She teaches students to propagate plants known to attract butterflies and then hosts neighbourhood planting days, giving away seedlings for families to plant in their own gardens. She says she gets a real kick out of children showing their parents how to propagate, saying ‘No mum, you don’t do it that way, this is the way you do it. Let me show you.’ This is not her first hands-on educational initiative, she has been doing this sort of work for more than a decade, working closely with the natural resource management education unit and now Green Adelaide to incorporate sustainability into the school curriculum.
Education and engagement:
Jason Tyndall
Through storytelling, poetry, photography and art, Jason Tyndall brings people closer to nature. He draws on almost two decades of experience in the environment sector, culminating in his current role at Nature Play SA. He has trained in environmental management and specialised in environmental education. He has written countless valuable nature-based resources, delivered hundreds of workshops and presentations all over the state and engaged with thousands of educators, children and adults to deepen understanding and help people find a true and meaningful connection with nature. His latest book ‘Where birds sing and wildflowers dance: a companion for exploring South Australia’s National Parks’ is a triumph.
Flora for fauna:
Andrew and Alison Jessup
In 20 years, Andrew and Alison Jessup have restored a 650 hectare former grazing property on Kangaroo Island near Middle River to provide habitat for the endangered glossy black cockatoo, which feeds exclusively on the seeds of the casuarina tree. By engaging a network of dedicated volunteers, the Jessups have established an annual tree planting exercise on the property. Over the course of these 20 years, more than 15,000 native trees have been planted on the property. Sightings of the glossy black have become an almost daily occurrence.
Research and Information/Knowledge:
Ann Williams
Decades of work to identify, preserve and improve the remnant native vegetation of the Yorke Peninsula has informed Ann Williams’ popular book, “Native Plants of the Yorke Peninsula”. Her passion for the plants of the Peninsula began when she became secretary of the Southern Yorke Peninsula Tree Propagation and Landcare Group in 1991. The first typed list of local plants was published in 1996, and gradually evolved into a black and white booklet. In 2017, the third edition, with 84 pages and 100 photographs, was launched. As well as creeping about the local scrub, Ann wandered through old cemeteries and explored roadsides, sometimes finding rare or hidden gems, some long thought extinct.
Growing:
Peter Hemmings
Provenance Indigenous Plants at Salisbury is a nursery that propagates and distributes only those species that are indigenous to the Adelaide region. These are the plants that our native animals and insects depend on. Owner and horticulturalist Peter Hemmings is passionate about the local native plants of Adelaide and his business contributes to the conservation and restoration of our unique indigenous flora. Mr Hemmings recently worked with the City of Salisbury to plant 10,000 trees along the Little Para River.
Innovative technology and methodology:
Craig Hosking
One of the driving forces behind the suite of innovative tree management solutions at The Project Green Group is Craig Hosking of Austral Tree Services. Rising to the challenge of climate change, the eden4 software platform was developed to facilitate more sophisticated green asset management using the latest technology to guide decision making. Underpinned by data, green assets once thought to be problematic can be recognised as assets worthy of retention because their value, role and importance within the landscapes they occupy is now known. When trees do have to come down, the philanthropic initiative Wood for Good recycles and re-purposes vegetation to provide positive community outcomes and donates 100 per cent of the profits to charities including conservation programs.
Influencer and change maker:
Laura Carrington
Environmental warrior Laura Carrington is passionate about making the world a better place. She has a growing following on social media through her “Love Earth Laura” profile on Instagram and Facebook, inspiring and leading a generation toward an environmentally friendly lifestyle. Topics range from home gardening to homemade produce, including good old fashioned preserves, and tips for the eco-mum such as using cloth nappies and making your own cloth wipes. Laura can also be found orchestrating beach cleans, removing plastic straws and other rubbish from our environment.
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